Is Bitcoin on the Way Back to $100,000? | REKT Vision (January 16, 2025)

16 Jan 2026 · 1 h 8 min · 26 chapters

Ask about this episode

Ask anything about it. ChatGPT or Claude reads this page and answers with the times it was said.

Connect VO and ask about every podcast you hear, including the moments you saved. Add to ChatGPT · Add to Claude

In short

Podcast Summary: Real Vision - Is Bitcoin on the Way Back to $100,000? | REKT Vision (January 16, 2025)

Podcast Overview In this episode of Real Vision's REKT Vision, hosts Mando and Sergito discuss the current state of cryptocurrency markets, focusing on Bitcoin's potential return to the $100,000 mark, the dynamics of NFTs, crypto regulations, and broader market sentiments. The conversation is rich with insights for both seasoned and novice investors in the crypto space.

Key Themes and Discussions

  1. Market Overview
  2. Current State of Bitcoin and Ethereum:
  3. Bitcoin recently reached a high of $97.5K before retreating to a resistance level of $94.5K.
  4. Ethereum (ETH) peaked at around $3,400 but also faced a pullback.
  5. Sergito expresses optimism about the market's recovery and believes a significant move towards $100K is feasible, citing positive market signals.
  • Market Sentiment:
  • The end of the previous year was characterized by leverage wipeouts and tax-related sell-offs, but recent trends suggest renewed interest and institutional adoption.
  • Mando notes that the current environment presents a favorable risk-reward scenario for investing in Bitcoin and Ethereum based on price movements and support levels.
  1. Investment Strategies
  2. ETH Long Position:
  3. Mando discusses his strategy of taking a long position on ETH as Bitcoin broke key resistance levels.
  4. The potential for ETH to rise to about $3,600 is mentioned, emphasizing a favorable risk-to-reward ratio.
  • Adoption and Fundamentals:
  • Sergito highlights ongoing developments in Ethereum's ecosystem, including increased on-chain activity and new wallet creations.
  • Both hosts agree that Ethereum remains a leader in the space, driven by solid fundamentals and technological advancements.
  1. Crypto Regulations
  2. Clarity Act Discussions:
  3. Recent developments regarding the Clarity Act, aimed at providing clearer regulations for the crypto industry, are discussed.
  4. Coinbase's opposition to the bill due to restrictions on decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoin yields contrasts with other crypto leaders' willingness to cooperate for progress.
  5. The hosts reflect on the necessity for the crypto industry to adapt to the evolving regulatory landscape, suggesting that some compromise may be necessary for growth.
  1. NFT Landscape
  2. Current Trends in NFTs:
  3. The discussion transitions to NFTs, highlighting the resilience of projects like CryptoPunks amid broader market fluctuations.
  4. Mando and Sergito emphasize that NFT communities are innovating and adapting business models, such as leveraging royalties and creating unique experiences.
  • Future Directions for NFTs:
  • Both hosts anticipate an uptick in NFT activity, especially with creative projects and collaborations emerging.
  • They express the need for NFTs to continue evolving, with a focus on building robust communities and providing tangible value.
  1. Global Economic Context
  2. Macro Factors Influencing Crypto:
  3. The conversation touches on macroeconomic factors, including geopolitical tensions and their potential impact on crypto markets.
  4. The hosts note that Bitcoin may act as a hedge against traditional assets during times of uncertainty, similar to gold.
  • Future Predictions:
  • The potential for further volatility in global markets is acknowledged, with an emphasis on how this could affect investor behavior towards cryptocurrencies.

Key Takeaways

  • Optimistic Outlook for Bitcoin: Despite fluctuations, there is a belief that Bitcoin can reach $100K, supported by favorable market conditions and institutional interest.
  • Ethereum's Strong Fundamentals: ETH's network developments and user activity indicate a positive trend, making it a promising investment.
  • Navigating Regulations: The crypto industry must remain adaptable to regulatory changes while advocating for a supportive framework.
  • NFTs' Evolution: The NFT market is expected to grow as projects focus on community building and creative innovations.
  • Macro Awareness: Understanding the broader economic context is crucial for predicting cryptocurrency behavior in the face of global challenges.

Conclusion This episode of Real Vision offers valuable insights into the current crypto landscape, emphasizing optimism for Bitcoin's return to $100,000, the innovative trajectory of NFTs, and the importance of regulatory clarity. Investors are encouraged to remain vigilant and adaptable as the market evolves.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

Tap a time to open that second in VO

Market Overview and Personal Insights

0:45 to 2:06

Discussion on the current state of the crypto market and personal trading strategies.

“Is that what you go by these days or are you a man of many titles?”

Bitcoin's Potential Path to $100K

2:06 to 3:54

Exploration of Bitcoin's price movements and potential future highs.

“And I think it is very clear that as soon as the year turned, the calendar turned, we saw this bid come back on.”

Ethereum's Market Dynamics and Future

3:54 to 7:32

An in-depth look at Ethereum's performance and the factors influencing its value.

“is kind of close to where i put on the original trade actually um eath's actually held up slightly better than Bitcoin.”

Geopolitical Factors Affecting Crypto

7:32 to 9:55

Analysis of how geopolitical events are impacting the cryptocurrency landscape.

“it was a mixture of a little bit of a slowdown in the things that we needed to slow down for crypto to kind of take a bit more of a center stage, let's say.”

Latin America's Resource Richness and US Policy

9:55 to 14:00

Discussion on Latin America's resources and the implications of US foreign policy.

“And then it completely underperformed ETH in 25 by like, I think, 20, 25%.”

U.S. Influence in South America

14:00 to 15:30

Exploring U.S. geopolitical interests in resource-rich regions.

“And maybe you just bully it in to take the oil, which doesn't bode well for other countries.”

Volatility in Global Markets

15:30 to 17:10

Discussion on increasing global market volatility and its implications.

“I mean, both of us were on desks back in the day.”

The Impact of Economic Policies

17:10 to 19:00

Analyzing economic policies and their effects on market dynamics.

“But if you go back to, you know, talking about like the last 15, 20 years, right?”

Crypto Regulations and Developments

19:00 to 21:40

Insights into recent crypto regulations and industry responses.

“Or they're going to, like you said, make, I mean, I tweeted about this before when we spoke about it on X, but like they're going to make plays for all these sort of resources.”

Stablecoin Yield Controversies

21:40 to 24:30

Examining the challenges surrounding stablecoin yields in the crypto space.

“which is a behemoth compared to where Coinbase is when it comes to users, volumes, products.”
Show all 26 chapters

Banking Industry's Crypto Adaptation

24:30 to 27:10

Discussion on banks adapting to the rise of crypto and fintech.

“It was still a process of going through things that, you know, most people think, oh, if I want to go do it, I'll go do it.”

Future of Crypto Products in Banking

27:10 to 28:00

Speculating on the future integration of crypto products in traditional banking.

“I remember one of the conversations that we had when I was at Fireblocks with one of the big banks, I was totally surprised.”

The Shift to Fintech and Crypto

28:00 to 29:10

Discussing the movement of traditional banking towards fintech and cryptocurrency.

“They obviously did direct deposit from their employer with the bank that their parents bank at.”

Value of Community at Crypto Gatherings

29:45 to 31:38

Exploring the significance of community connections at crypto events.

“It literally broke my heart when I saw the dates because the CryptoGathering has become one of the highlights of my year on the personal side.”

The CryptoPunks Phenomenon

31:38 to 34:18

Examining the CryptoPunks NFT project and its market impact.

“But we should talk a little bit about CryptoPunks because I think they are kind of the bellwether and then we'll go into the me bits.”

The Future of MiBits in the Metaverse

34:18 to 38:10

Discussing the potential and future plans for the MiBits NFT collection.

“of tokenized digital art, not just for what they represent, but because of the network that they, you know, that you become a part of when you buy a CryptoPunk.”

NFT Market Trends and Community Engagement

38:10 to 40:56

Analyzing current NFT market trends and how communities are engaging.

“One, the fun part of MiBits, the ability that they exist in this digital world.”

Evolving NFT Narratives and Opportunities

40:56 to 42:01

Discussing how narratives around NFTs are changing and evolving.

“the Palo Alto event, could be the turning point back for NFTs.”

Building Exclusive Communities in Crypto

42:01 to 45:34

Explore the importance of community and innovation in the NFT space.

“Like I really enjoy seeing teams like yourself or OSF or Spencer or Luca coming in and trying to do interesting things with IP, trying to build communities.”

The Privacy Debate in Crypto

45:35 to 47:00

Discuss the challenges and narratives surrounding privacy coins like Zcash.

“other than that this week, the only real one has been the privacy narrative.”

Emerging Trends and Market Mindsets

47:01 to 48:34

Analyze the shifting narratives in crypto, including AI coins and market dynamics.

“But I don't think that these old coins that have been around for 10 years and have seen similar cycles play out are the actual technical solution.”

Investing in Altcoins and Their Challenges

48:35 to 54:38

Understand the complexities and risks of investing in altcoins and DeFi protocols.

“working 20-hour days and just focused on meetings and like I'm training for like an endurance race.”

Navigating the Crypto Landscape

54:39 to 56:00

Learn about the current state of crypto investing and the importance of market awareness.

“I mean, do you really buy altcoins at all, Zajito?”

Navigating Token Liquidity and Trading Challenges

56:00 to 56:52

Learn about the complexities of token liquidity and the challenges faced by investors in the crypto market.

“Anything that has a token, once the lockup expires, Even before that, they find ways to sell it.”

The NFT Market: Trends and Value Creation

56:52 to 59:25

Explore the current state of the NFT market and how different projects seek to create long-term value.

“that potentially is ulti, it's just JPEGs.”

Getting Started with NFTs: Tips for Newcomers

59:25 to 1:02:22

Discover practical advice for beginners looking to enter the NFT space and how to choose the right projects.

“but then now they have an expectation of value or something.”
Hear the part that matters, and keep it.Open this episode in VO. Double tap your headphones to save a moment as you listen.
Get VO free

Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Hey, everyone. As you know, on this podcast, I bring the best guests in the world of that nexus of understanding of macro crypto in the exponential age of technology. If you're enjoying the show, a quick five-star rating goes a long way. It helps us grow and keep these conversations coming with the best guests in the world. Thanks a lot.

0:25We're back for another episode of Wreck Vision. As per usual, the market is not doing that well on a Friday. Not really a shocking to anyone that we're edging a little bit lower as this show goes live. That is always the case. We're joined this week by Sergito, obviously friend of the show. I'm sure you're well-known by many of the listeners, viewers, CEO of MeBits. Is that what you go by these days or are you a man of many titles? Oh, that's it. That's the title, hopefully, for the next 30 years. We'll see. That's the plan, though. Yeah, it's always great to have you on. Obviously, a lot of takes, XTradFi, knows crypto very well.

1:06Probably came in around the same time or just before I did, actually, it feels like. So it feels as though we were having a good week. And then, what was it, two days ago, we hit like 97.5 for like 100K was on the cards. and then crypto has just kind of not died, but it's just clearly not going to be a vicious breakout if that's going to be the case. So we've retreated back to the previous level of resistance, which is this 94.5K level, and we seem to be holding that, which I think is a good sign. ETH got as high as I think 3 ,400, has also retreated. Solana has had an okay week. How are you feeling about the market here, Sajito?

1:51Yeah. I'm honestly feeling great, man. I think the end of the year was very clearly, you know, that flush out combination that we always get, you know, the leverage wipe out, but as well, like tax season. I mean, we saw it across the board. And I think it is very clear that as soon as the year turned, the calendar turned, we saw this bid come back on. And then when you look at everything that's happening outside of the day-to-day trading, The signals still continue to point, you know, very, very bullish for adoption. The narratives are, I think, pretty intact when it comes to, you know, institutionals, when it comes to a lot of different things.

2:33So I'm feeling much better today and not because of the price, but because of just how it feels, actually, than I was calling it in like November. Obviously, December was not a Merry Christmas for people that just kind of like buy and hold, which is I like to position myself to not have to worry too much of coming in and out every day. Yeah, I'm more of the opposite. I do like to buy like breakouts and I had had an okay start of the year. I got involved in XMR, Google, Gold. But then this week I put on my biggest ETH long that I've put on in many, many months. As soon as Bitcoin broke above that 94.5K, level of resistance that had been hit so many different times i was like right this is a this is a time to this could go to 100k i still think that that's the case i think it's very likely here that we're going to go to 100k from here um and if you're watching the show right now i actually think this is a really good risk reward point because you'd have to see it break basically below 94 maybe like down to 93 so your downside there is like one percent here and then your upside it goes to like 100 and if it hits 100 then it could go up to like the 50 week moving average which is close to like 105 area so i don't really like the risk reward of the market right here this is kind of close to where i put on the original trade actually um eath's actually held up slightly better than Bitcoin.

4:07But if you are looking for a risk-reward trade, I do think it's kind of presenting itself. I saw your tweet. It made me happy. It made me happy because obviously I'm a bit of an not maxi, but that's obviously my biggest belief in this ecosystem. And I was obviously when smart folks that I follow, like yourself, go fundamentally, or not if it's fundamentals or just chart, but go long. It's always good. And I was actually waiting for this conversation to ask you, what were the drivers behind that? Not just buying it, but publicly making it a call. Well, for me, obviously we've been in this world where crypto hasn't made sense.

4:51Everything else has been going higher. Crypto hasn't made sense. And I've just been respecting that and buying other things in that world. Even though I like the crypto thesis, like I think you just have to respect that move down from 120 to whatever it was 80 at many different times you could have said well the correlation is going to come back to gold is going to come back to stocks and then what you started to see over the last week is not all but tech stocks are a mixed bag particularly some of the software names and gold has started to slow down uh you know so all-time highs but just slowing down and so i fundamentally i was like right we could have this rotation back into crypto a little bit here then with eth the main thing for me is this is this bitmine situation um a situation which i was a lot more bearish on for eth i think it's kind of turning back around and we're having the second wind of the DATS.

5:57It's really only happening in the ETH DATS because they have this staking yield and cash component too, or like ongoing income component. But it looks like Tom Lee's, I don't know if I got confirmation because this is really why I put in the trade, increased the trade yesterday. But it looks like he's got the votes to increase his share capital by a ton more again, which will allow him to get up to 5 % of the market cap of ETH. And he's already got a billion. So you're probably looking at him buying another 10 billion or so of ETH, or maybe just shy of that, maybe that's like 7 to 10, to get up to around that 5 % level.

6:39And I just have become a little less bearish on the ETH back because of this revenue aspect, because it feels as though they are, he did like an investment in Mr. Beast's company the other day, which I don't have a view on that. But my view about this is that they are going to continue to get staking revenue. And I think they're going to like, maybe become almost not tether-like, but they're going to become like slightly diversified investment vehicles that way. The Bitcoin dads don't do that. There's no yield ever there, or there's like that fake yield that gets spoken about. so i i'm not as bearish on the main dads you know i think bitmine and sharpening are going to probably do okay and i think that that makes that story and potentially even buy even more ether so i think that story actually is kind of turning back around a bit so it was a mixture of things it was a mixture of a little bit of a slowdown in the things that we needed to slow down for crypto to kind of take a bit more of a center stage, let's say.

7:44Bitcoin finally breaking out of that range. And today you've got like a perfect retest of that range, if I'm honest. And then what do I want to buy on that breakout? I think you could have gone like, I'm just going to max risk and buy all these meme coins. And actually they've kind of gotten rugged, the majority of them back down on this move, although on-chain activities picked up. so I was like I think I'm just gonna buy ETH and I'm I feel pretty good about that I think if you take a zoom out and you look like the 50 week moving average for ETH it's about 3 ,600 3 ,650 I think that's the sort of level it could go to here which is like a 10 % move just over a 10 % move and I think the downsides you know your downsides 3 ,200 in my opinion which is 2.5 % move.

8:34So I like that as a risk-reward trade. I like it. I think from the fundamental perspective, a lot of people haven't really talked much about it, but Ethereum activity on chain, on mainnet, is also back to the highs. New wallet creation, back to the highs. I think a lot of the activity that had just leaked to L2s, which is a good long-term story for ETH, but obviously not so much short-term where things slow down. A lot of that, it's not that it has returned. We're just seeing people come to mainnet and a couple of their recent upgrades, you know, Fusaka and that, like the roadmap has been delivered quite well by the foundation and the core devs.

9:18And, you know, you have not heard anybody complain about EatGas, for example, over the last, you know, call it this side of the bear market. So I also think there's a really good fundamental story there where you're actually, continue to see big traditional investment companies, big banks building, thinking about it, developing. And I do think that obviously there's other chains that are able to provide maybe more incentives from the foundation and so on. But at the end of the day, I do think Ethereum is going to be the main chain for all that. And the metrics, the fundamentals back it up. And I think the tech backs it up as well.

9:57So yeah, I think, I love it. I love it. I know you're doing a trade. But it's a lot better when the mindshare, or I think the consensus on like crypto Twitter or just people that are in the space is positive and not negative like it was for the first half of last year, where, you know, Solana continued to dominate the storylines. And then it completely underperformed ETH in 25 by like, I think, 20, 25%. So I agree with you. I agree with you on the setup, but I also think there's a lot of fundamentals behind it that can give you that support, at least to the downside, as people come back to crypto, to your point, versus other assets.

10:39What do you think of the macro setup? Because you talk about, obviously, tech stocks. That's one story, AI and economic growth that feeds on itself. But then you have probably some of the worst geopolitical environments we've seen since Brexit, maybe even further back, maybe the really starting to teeter with like EM crisis kind of stuff with this new policy from the US and the reactions. So how do you see crypto in that sense? Is it like Bitcoin still hopefully catches a correlation trade to gold where everything else gets dumped as a risk asset? Or does Bitcoin pull the ecosystem higher? It's been difficult to say because the real one was Venezuela and the market just kind of rallied.

11:31It was kind of over very quickly when that happened. And this little dip did coincide with a potential strike on Iran, right, which in the end didn't happen. But it was difficult to tell if Bitcoin is liking U.S. intervention a bit more or not after that. Last week, Rao was on. We spoke about it a little bit. And we said, look, the US is basically calling time on the previous global world order and just kind of flexing its muscles and deciding to go after different resources in different places. The Iranian one is less like that, it feels like, although it's obviously still flexing its muscles.

12:22I don't know if it's resource-led, really, the Iranian one. and the market didn't particularly like it i don't think like that that was one of the things that people were worried about as the as the market kind of went lower i don't know it does feel like the sort of world where everyone is throwing out the rule book a bit or realizing the rule book is not the same and you start it's a sort of world where you could see trying to do something it's a sort of world where you could see i mean russia i guess is already doing something that really doesn't really have the power, but it's only really China that could kind of decide to flex its muscles slightly on Taiwan.

13:02I don't know, but it does feel like the volatility in the world has gone up. There's definite spheres of influence, it feels like. Right now, the U.S. is making kind of a play again for Central and South America, which, although it was involved, it doesn't feel like it's been as involved for the last 30 years. like I don't I mean I guess Panama was the last real intervention they did and but since then it's kind of just been like more guidance this felt a lot more aggressive you're from that region like what what's your what's your view on it all it's uh it's funny right because yeah Maduro is definitely not a good person um but I also think like Latin Americans have always been just apprehensive of the U.S.

13:49and its foreign policy. And so it's kind of like people feel like, yeah, it's great, but Dura's gone, but then you're left behind the same regime. So there's no real change there. And maybe you just bully it in to take the oil, which doesn't bode well for other countries. It's a region that's super rich with mineral resources, to your point, right? Mexico has oil, silver, copper, have a lot of agriculture. If you look at Chile, obviously their whole thing is copper. And then around Southern Cone, a lot of resources for the taking if the US wants to go that route. And so I think it definitely, it's like this new Monroe style doctrine of like, we're protecting you.

14:33it doesn't feel that you're protecting us so much as you maybe are just planting a flag that is a little bit more hostile than it used to be. So we'll see what happens. I personally think the Venezuela thing was more of an ego distraction thing than not, especially because of the way they went about it with blaming fentanyl. The reality is being from Mexico, most of the drugs do come in from Mexico and the government of Mexico is really, really having issues, you know, uprooting corruption. And so I think if you really wanted to attack drugs, you would go and do that in Mexico, not in Venezuela.

15:12And of course, then the tune changes, like, oh, it's about oil. It's about like whatever else. So I think I would have liked to be much more straightforward so that it would like dampen the volatility. But to your point, the market liked it. And I don't know how much of that it was, the fact that the year which is starting, right, it was like the first few days of the year. I mean, both of us were on desks back in the day. Like that's the first, second day that people are still in Tulum or still out skiing. It's not until like the second week that people really come back and start putting risk on.

15:43And so I don't know if it was a coincidence or if like Bitcoin just really likes, you know, Donald Trump going a little bit more aggressive on the American continent. Yeah, there was a lot of, oh, we're doing this for the people at the start. And then all I've really heard about recently is, then directing the oil tankers and then selling it like via Qatar. It's all about the oil suddenly now, which kind of says a lot really, doesn't it? But at the same time, it was a shot in the kneecap. It does feel like for China, obviously they were owed a lot of money by Venezuela. It feels like the sort of thing where you can do multiple victories.

16:21And that's why you go in for something like that. I guess Dream in something similar as well, though. So look, I think volatility is increasing on a global scale. That has been the case for the last 15 years, it feels like, particularly the last eight. And I think it's now coming to a head. Particularly AI, I think it's kind of forcing it as well. People are realizing the energy and the finite resources of the planet are suddenly going to be, no, not rapidly used up, but like there is a world here where everyone is chasing for as much as they can get over the next 20 years. And I think that is forcing some of these, forcing these sort of moves.

17:11Sure. But if you go back to, you know, talking about like the last 15, 20 years, right? Like right before the GFC, I still remember as an intern at Goldman in 2008 and everybody wanted to be in the commodities desk. Soil was well north of like 120. You're not seeing that today, anywhere near that, like levels of energy prices. It's kind of like a different types of resources. And so, yeah, to me, like if I look at it, I guess step back, it's like what Raul always says, it's just debasement, right? At the end of the day, whether that's wars, whether that is, you know, just expansion, whether that's just some of the populist measures that we've seen in the States.

17:51I mean, to me, it's just hilarious that there's like populist, like it's like I would wake up and read a headline and you'd think Bernie Sanders was president with some of the stuff that's being passed. And, you know, regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, I mean, there's something to be said about the economic spectrum and that is just all going to be printed money at some point, whether that's today or in a year, I don't know. But that's what, you know, If I think of crypto today and where it's going, like, yeah, like just even from that sense, there's no way like they don't print even more money than we thought.

18:28I mean, those are announcements of how much more they want to spend on military hidden states, right? Like the budget for the Department of Defense. It's a big number. Then those things like really start adding up. It's more like ICE enforcement, right? Like they're really growing that department. And again, like removing the political bias, which obviously as an immigrant is, you know, very heady on my part. just thinking of like, okay, they're hiring a lot more people to work for the government, paying big money, they're doing bonuses like that. And then they're like trying to cut taxes here and there.

18:59So where's that going to come from? And they're just going to print it. Yeah, they're going to print it. Or they're going to, like you said, make, I mean, I tweeted about this before when we spoke about it on X, but like they're going to make plays for all these sort of resources. Like they've got to find a way around it. The fiscal responsibility is just out of the door. It's against human nature. And I think that now they're realizing that these are not easier options, but they just become the only options kind of left. And we did see this week, though, that this whole political back and forth is coming to a head in Washington at the moment just because of the Clarity Act as well.

19:39This has been something that crypto has been asking for for a long, long time. The Senate did come out with a draft proposal this week. everyone who was anyone was in Washington, it felt like, from the crypto industry. You had all the major players, CEOs all out there. And it seemed to cause a bit of a schism in the response. Coinbase has probably been the number one lobbyer for the crypto industry over the last five to 10 years. And they actually came out against the bill. And it seemingly has been pushed back. Brian Armstrong came out on X and basically said we can't support it. The main issue seems to be there'd be a lot of oversight over DeFi.

20:27The tokenization of stocks would be difficult. And then one of the biggest ones is that they wouldn't be able to get yield on stable coins, which seemingly the banking lobbyists had pushed for to stop crypto basically being a challenger to savings accounts. At the same time, you had the Kraken CEO come out and say, we can work with this. The A16Z, one of the A16Z founders came out and said, we can work with this. A number of other pretty key people in the crypto space said that they were okay with it because it was the best that they were going to get. What was your sense on this? Like I looked on Polymarket and there was still about a 50 % chance this goes through.

21:09And in Brian Armstrong's actual reply to this, he says he still hopes that it can go through. So I don't know if this was just posturing or did you look at the bill? What was your take on everything? Yeah, I think for me, the biggest takeaway is the whole stablecoin yield, right? I think that's it. That's the big red line for banks. And obviously for crypto companies, especially outside Coinbase, that have such a linkage to Circle and you as a CEO of that business. I think Coinbase is looking at competing with Robinhood, which is a behemoth compared to where Coinbase is when it comes to users, volumes, products.

21:46And one of the easiest ways to do that is to get folks to deposit USDC and be able to turn into a savings account automatically. But really between the lines too, it's more like, okay, well, I'm posturing potentially so that if it passes and things don't go too bad, we can still kind of like be the renegades if necessary. Because there's so much about narrative in space as well. And at the end of the day, I feel like all these things have already been decided. And this is just probably like some sort of like public back and forth. When you look at like, you know, I haven't paid attention to like lawmaking over and over for the last, you know, we've been professionals for what, 15 years.

22:28It always feels like people already know it's going to end. We just have to go through like the song and dance, like the ritual and the ceremony. And I don't see in the market, like, I feel like if this was like really negative for crypto, you would have seen a much larger reaction. And you can't put it, like you can't pinpoint it on a chart. And so, yeah, I mean, it would, obviously we want as an industry, the best bill possible allows us to do everything. But, you know, being honest also, especially if you're going to get the Democrats on board, like that was never going to happen. I'm actually surprised that like the bill is still kind of like friendly-ish.

23:05thinking of. That's what I'm surprised about too. Like, it felt like it was left too late because we were speaking about this in Q4 of last year and then this year, now it felt like it was going to be too late. Obviously, the midterm's coming up and we're not coming up. And I think it's that, right? I think it's probably Democrats. Like, they saw how bad it was for them last election cycle to be super, you know, anti-crypto. I mean, they lost a lot more seats in Congress to that posture than anything else. So they're coming to the table and they're being more open about it. So I'm actually surprised.

23:36I think it's... Again, they're like, it's a bill that's going to be a lot. It's a law that's going to be a lot for 100 years. So let's try to get the best that we can. That's where you have to really do the math and is it good enough or not? Do you settle or not? And I feel like a lot of life is about compromise. So I'm in the NFT business, so it doesn't affect me that much. But we definitely want the whole pie for the industry to grow. And I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if also banks just buying time. They're not yet fully ready. Having worked with a handful of big institutions when I was at Fireblocks, it was what, three, four years ago.

24:13And these types of firms take five, 10 years to go through the whole process of rolling out new infra, new product, new compliance. There's a lot of things that need to happen. I mean, you know this, right? Even probably when you wanted to trade up a new name. It was still a process of going through things that, you know, most people think, oh, if I want to go do it, I'll go do it. And so maybe they're just buying time. And I do think it's better that we have it now and it passes as it is than not. And then, you know, I think the political landscape, when it comes to stuff that's in the middle, it's going to start getting very like fringy again as we move into midterms.

24:52And there might be a few of Democrats who are just like, you know, screw you guys. We don't like crypto, especially those that are like in safer seats, which unfortunately are the ones that carry the bigger weight I think sometimes within the party so I take it as a net net meh but slightly positive yeah I think there was some take that if it doesn't come now I think Charles Hoskinson said this who's the founder of Pradana that it would come in 2029 like this was kind of the final shot I think there's some talk about government shutdown again this in the next few weeks right which could delay this even further.

25:29And you just think if it is delayed anymore, it could be slightly unlikely. But still 50-50 chance if it comes this year. I think it will be this year or nothing because it does feel like a normal. The midterms normally lead to some form of a swing the other way. So let's... But like you said, maybe it's not right. Maybe it's not right. Maybe we just wait. That was definitely the take from Coinbase that no bill was better than any bill. And the market, you know, we're still kind of in a world where you can do quite a lot, it feels like. They are kind of just doing things around tokenization and just knowing that the SEC kind of won't come after them yet for it.

26:17It's kind of in this weird world of, right, we haven't got laws around this, but we're just going to do it. And we know that there's not going to be an enforcement action against trying it because they've now got this innovation carve out essentially at the SEC. So it's the actual need for regulation. It's still there, but it's like, I think Coinbase is able to do a lot of the stuff that is in the regulation right now. And maybe the regulation kind of repeals almost some of that stuff by the sounds of it, which maybe isn't. Yeah. I mean, they have a lot more at stake than the average market participant, I would say.

26:55And banks have a lot of stake, especially in the stablecoin yield situation. And so they're not ready to compete. And they do, you know, as the world, I guess the young people I come into, the new generation comes into a wider percentage of income and wealth and so on. I remember one of the conversations that we had when I was at Fireblocks with one of the big banks, I was totally surprised. I walked into the job like two weeks later, I'm meeting with a huge bank. and the person that we're talking to was like in charge of the project and I straight up asked like why he the way he expressed himself about it was just Bitcoin about Bitcoin I'm like why are we in this meeting you hate this like why are you like talking to an infrastructure provider about officially providing you know Bitcoin products in your banking app if you absolutely despise this he's like yeah I hate it but we have our internal data showing us that at the time it was millennials, really they're here because they started their first job.

28:01They obviously did direct deposit from their employer with the bank that their parents bank at. And now that they move through and they become more professionals, adult, whatever, we're starting to see a lot of outflow towards like fintechs. Specifically, a lot of also like crypto positive fintechs. And they mentioned a few names, which I won't repeat. But I was like, it's like, I don't want to do it. But I have to do it unless I'm going to bleed assets. And obviously, as the market crashed, all of that went away. But I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, maybe this cycle, but the next one, like just fully build, you know, Bitcoin, Ethereum, whatever, at least saving products or opportunity to hold those assets or access those assets beyond the ETFs on the more traditional platforms.

28:48Yeah, everyone's trying to become a neobank. all the l2s are trying to pivot to payments uh i think even bitmine came out yesterday said they're going to do an app it's it's very clear that they're going to try and meld the two of them the major fun the nft companies want to be toy companies so exactly we should probably get into that a little bit so a quick break in your regular programming if you're serious about your future grab my free report called prepare for 2030 i think you've got five years to make as much money as possible and this guide will help you navigate what's coming the link is in the description download it now i i hear you're not coming to the uh to the real vision event next week i'll just plug that by the way there are still some tickets by the way so crypto gathering in miami beach thursday to saturday ticket still available i think the social pass is 300 bucks to get you to all the social events uh head over to realvision.com forward slash crypto gathering because you were going to the CryptoPunk event.

Read the full transcript

29:48Yes. Let me say it breaks my heart. It literally broke my heart when I saw the dates because the CryptoGathering has become one of the highlights of my year on the personal side. Just seeing so many friends that I've made through Real Vision. I was hanging out with the Real Vision team and Raoul and everybody. It's awesome. But I love seeing community members come together, like hang out in a fun place, in a warm place in the winter. And just, you know, it's really smart people just exchanging ideas. And it's just, I've learned a lot from a lot of the folks that I've met there at the crypto gatherings in Cayman, Vegas, Miami last year.

30:22So yeah, the CryptoPunks are having their Node Gallery or Node Exhibition opening in Palo Alto. CryptoPunks project that was created by Larvalabs back in 2017. It became like the de facto best NFT project. Also the highest market cap for 10 ,000 NFT projects. And the MoMA just added some punks to their permanent collection back in December. So they got acquired by a foundation started by a friend of all of us, Mickey Malka, called the Node Foundation. And they're opening their exhibits. So, you know, the company that I run, Nebitz, owns the IP to a collection also created by Larva Labs that came a few years later in 2021.

31:06and so we share providence and we're very very you know we're close to together and trying to like push this into the art world so we have an official event that weekend and that's why i won't be able to make it to to my everybody it's just i was very sad for a few days when i realized that dates conflicted because yeah it's a it's a great event even if you just go to social things again i think it's just having those conversations being people that are a lot of the value that you get yeah again we have ron last week and he he seemed genuinely upset that you weren't coming and also that he wasn't going for that as well.

31:37It's a great event and it's unfortunate because you can't come either. But we should talk a little bit about CryptoPunks because I think they are kind of the bellwether and then we'll go into the me bits. But everyone always looks at the Bitcoin versus CryptoPunk ratio. Right now, CryptoPunks are 95k and Bitcoin is essentially 95k. They're trading at the same level. they had been a bit of a shaky Q4 there. A lot of profit taking, well, loss taking, let's say, in some of the punks, which normally accelerates as people into tax season. And then a lot of loans, it seemed like, were due suddenly on a number of different platforms.

32:23Although I'd heard that that had kind of been cleaned up somewhat over the last couple of weeks. What's your feeling now on the Bitcoin versus CryptoPunk ratio for the next year? I was just looking through the... They were showing the speakers for the CryptoGather and I'm just like sitting here like, I wish I could be in two places at the same time. So my Punks versus Bitcoin, you know, it's really funny because obviously they're both bellwethers, as you mentioned. I've never really compared them too much. It's like such different assets, right? At Punks, there's 10 ,000. Obviously, Bitcoin is a little more than that.

33:04The access to Bitcoin is so easy, right? You can just buy ETF today. I think the few times that I came on the show last year, or even two years ago, I spent a lot of time talking about how ETFs were really changing the funnel for Bitcoin. We don't really have that for Punks. So even today, if you want to buy a Punk, it takes a little bit of work. Going to buy Ether, going and getting a wallet, and so on. So it's still very niche. But the fact that there's still kind of like six figures for the most part, I think it's a great signal. A lot of what Raul talked about with crypto art and all these new asset classes.

33:39And so, yeah, it feels like last year was a bad year for crypto. But, you know, we had Bitcoin still high five figures. We had Punks. There were 200K in the summer. They came down to your point about loans and liquidations and people thinking tax losses. but there's still like$95 ,000 for the punk, which I think is incredible. And I think it just really, it's a market telling folks like, hey, under this new ownership group with Node at the helm, obviously Mickey and Becky, they're running the show. They're really going to make, like I think the community is really going to continue building that direction.

34:17Like this are some of the best pieces of tokenized digital art, not just for what they represent, but because of the network that they, you know, that you become a part of when you buy a CryptoPunk. And if you look at, for example, the MoMA collection, right? I think CryptoPunks and one of the people that were involved in the acquisition told me they're like the best example of a performance piece by a large centralized group of people. That's what's great about Punks. It's like, you know, even though the team's there at Node, it's really the community that comes together. and works towards elevating punks.

34:55I was actually packing for the event. I'm getting old now. I think a week before now for some reason. Otherwise, my wife starts yelling at me. But I looked and I have punk t-shirts. I have punk hats. I have a punk jacket. I have punk sneakers. And then I realized punks have actually never done official merch. It's all stuff from the community. I think that really speaks a lot. And community as a word obviously got completely abused back in 21 and 22 during the bubble. But when you look at punks and the group of people that you join and kind of like held the open doors, I think it's quite valuable.

35:31I mean, we had Reid Hoffman buy a punk in Q4 of last year. Obviously, Mickey has been very successful, making great investments at Ribbit. I would not be surprised to hear more and more people from that sphere. This new exhibit is going to be permanently located in Palo Alto, a few blocks from Stanford, right in the heart of Silicon Valley, to see more and more people that make it in tech come into punks. And so, yeah, it's an amazing group of people. It's an amazing piece of art. And yeah, we love the punks and obviously love the meetups as well. yeah i think i think this whole vision of of a of a valuable community led by i mean i i like the yuga team but like it's a different sort of element when it's this rivet capital uh no foundation team because clearly they are they they're amazing investors they know everyone in tech they have that that aura about them that you want to be part of that club you know um and that's often what makes a a collectible long-term right that you have uh you want to be part of the group of people that own it so i think i think it's gonna be very interesting to see how this develops now it's they're really going to lean into this um i wouldn't say high class but just like uh you would want to be part of the club for sure uh i feel it like that i'm not going to this subliminal event you know what i mean and that there's a difference between that and let's say like a yuga event going back to me bits then what's been going on there we have we have our surf on occasionally we talk about rect a lot but like um i'd love to i think when we last spoke you were doing a range different things but i'd love to see what was going to stock up over the last uh for the last few months yeah so you know last year we acquired me bits in uh february and um we pretty much set out to experiment we think it was the collection was created by labor labs as well so to us are They're art.

37:35Mibits are art. That's fun and functional. So they're digital sculptures, all created in voxel forms. And there's 20 ,000 of them. So very diverse collection that we then said, okay, what can we do with Mibits that really helps us start elevating them to where they belong in the canon of digital art? And so, by the way, the website you're seeing right now is our temporary website. We're actually going to launch a whole new web experience at the end of the month that really allows people to familiarize themselves with all the traits and all the details that Matt and John from Larva Labs put into the collection.

38:11And that's what we're doing this year. We're focused on two main things. One, the fun part of MiBits, the ability that they exist in this digital world. We're going to be doing a lot of things on the other side, which is the Yuga Labs metaverse. Obviously, Yuga has been putting a lot of resources there and Roblox and all that stuff. They worked really well. It's just a matter of bringing in the people and it's a great place. And so MIVITS are a natural fit for that. And that's going to take care of the fun piece. We have a couple of soccer-inspired activations coming up. Obviously, a huge year for football around the world.

38:46And yeah, we'll be doing really, really fun things when it comes to that. Growing up in Mexico and collecting stuff around the World Cup was something that really left a really good memory. And so we want to replicate some of that, but in the digital space. I think I was saying, you know, earlier, like all the NFT communities or projects have become toy companies or want to become physical companies, which to me is like the opposite, right? Like we all came into crypto because we believe in digital asset ownership and what that unlocks. So to go back to like the comforts of the meat space, it's a little bit like, you know, going against the principles of why people came here.

39:24And so we're going to really push on the digital side this year. We did a bunch of physical stuff last year, but we really think digital is the future. And so we want to try to lead by example. Then on the art side, Meavits turned five years old in May of this year. So we're working with Matt and John from Barber Labs. They're actual advisors to us, strategic advisors. And we'll be doing something big in New York to celebrate that birthday and really just retell the story of Meavits. I think a lot of the time people see them as like, you know, punk tariffs or like this random project that got dropped and nobody really thinks about.

40:00Obviously, the market was going crazy at the time. So we're going back and really just reframing that narrative. Matt and John actually spent years building this collection. And luckily, they're very good and very disciplined at documenting everything they do. So we have a lot of info, renders, like lists, a lot of things that is going to allow us to come back into the world and be like, hey, listen, this is like a masterpiece of 20 ,000 generative sculptures. And here's the process and this is why. So those are the two open fronts that we have. And we're pretty excited about this year. And then just obviously cheering for everybody else, the entities.

40:38I think growing the pie overall is good, good, good. And especially in a market that shrunk so much for the last five years. So definitely wishing the best to all the other teams and all the other collectors that are in the space and helping push the space forward. People have been saying that that event, the Palo Alto event, could be the turning point back for NFTs. I don't know. It does feel like the market is looking for stuff right now. On-chain activity has gone up a lot, even over the last week. And it's not been great narratives, let me put it that way. Like it's kind of a rehash of an AI or like a creator coin narrative, which I think we've kind of already seen.

41:23But people are looking for things to kind of get behind. And if there's a time again for NFTs this year, which I think we had a mixed year last year. But yeah, this would kind of be it again to kind of help form a base to kind of push from. I think we have Moonbirds are doing a coin soon and they've been trying to push a lot of different things. And then there's Rekt and there's Pudgy Penguins and there's yourselves all like pushing different sort of activations on different sort of sides. So I see so much more creative and fun stuff from the NFT communities than I see from the meme coin communities, let me put it that way.

42:01Like I really enjoy seeing teams like yourself or OSF or Spencer or Luca coming in and trying to do interesting things with IP, trying to build communities. It's just way more interesting to me how they're being run. And even at the punk stuff, it's like building this sort of ultra-exclusive community that you kind of want to be part of even more. You don't see that anywhere else in crypto, really. Yeah, and I was there a MemeCoin guy. And I think it obviously was pretty profitable for a lot of people. That's awesome. For me, like why I came to crypto was because of that community, that group aspect that NFTs provided.

42:45It's lucky that, you know, I stumbled onto punks. But I feel like a lot of other people had stumbled into things that also did very well for themselves. I mean, obviously you guys had a really good run with apes, for example. And, you know, it's like NFTs 3.0 going forward. You know, while we're going digital, I do like seeing, you know, obviously the red drink stuff is amazing. that check out into getting tokens at point of sale is an incredible innovation that I think should be talked about so much more often. All these other big traditional crypto brands that might not have an NFT component that talk about onboarding the masses.

43:23This is like, that's right there. And then some of the collaborations, I think we've been some really smart licensing place from folks like Pudgy, right? Where they have the capital to go out and license IP I think they just announced Manchester City. And so, yeah, they're able to like, hey, you know, borrow that, you know, fan base and put, you know, their token in front of it, which is good. And it's kind of like the more traditional sense of business. Like obviously, you know, Formula One cars, rather like all sponsorships that you see the logos on them. And so little things like that, to your point, we're not only seeing like innovation, but innovation a whole.

44:04in a bunch of different ways, right? So you have Yuga with like Metaverse and have a physical club they're building in Miami, which is the original premise of it. They have a partnership with Amazon. They're actually having another NFT sales for other side on Amazon. I think it's next week. Again, imagine like five years ago saying, oh yeah, we're going to sell NFTs through Amazon. People would have lost their mind. You have Pudgy doing licensing deals and like, you know, getting Carverers and Man City to like do merch with them. I think that's super smart obviously rec I think again the checkout stuff for me is like one of the best things I've seen in the last five years I'm trying digital others Spencer's like launching like a full kind of like factory things I'll be making toys for others and cards for others so not only are you seeing innovation but it's like a bunch of different shots it's like almost like we're all playing different sports now we're all playing like you know tennis in 21 now there's tennis now there's football now there's basketball now there's baseball and that also just expands the surface area if people want to come in and really be part of different communities.

45:07And it's not just the same kind of playbook with a different cartoon character on top. Yeah, they definitely feel like businesses now, which are a really good way of putting it, just expanding the surface of what you can imagine crypto doing. And I think that's why I think it's the innovative bit that I think is missing from so many other bits of crypto. I think the NFT space, at least some businesses, really pushed the envelope. But there hasn't, I mean, in terms of narratives, other than that this week, the only real one has been the privacy narrative. Are you a privacy coin guy at all? I'm sure at Fireblocks, those sort of coins caused you a lot of issues for many years.

45:46But Zcash? So, you know, it's funny because my biggest issue with crypto has always been the lack of privacy from the very beginning. Yeah. And so, at the start, I was like, well, if anybody can see your transactions, like it's kind of like it could fall into the wrong things but this whole ccash narrative and you see the people that are talking about it and like the way they're talking about it come on man like ccash been around for a long time like this is obviously one of those you know group mindset traits um and that's why like i usually just step back because that's like you know i'm not in those types of groups to know when to sell.

46:28But you've had these types of runs on these particular coins multiple times over the last 10 years. So to me, it's more like, you know, you're really worried about Ccash. I mean, your privacy, for example, obviously, an incredible builder, very successful, like Mert. If you're really into privacy, then stop building on Solana and go and fully build on Ccash. Not the case. So sometimes actions speak a little bit louder than work. And, you know, so I think privacy is something that crypto overall needs to solve eventually. But I don't think that these old coins that have been around for 10 years and have seen similar cycles play out are the actual technical solution.

47:11But yeah, congrats to everybody that's making money off the narrative. One new narrative that I saw, I think it was Farak that posted this morning about it, was AI coins. I haven't even taken a look at which ones people are talking about. It's loose, man. I have a feeling it's like last time around, it's just, you know, yeah. There's a coin where like Claude Code is helping a tomato tree grow or something like this. They create a coin around it. Like it's not, we're not. All right, so I shouldn't go spend time on that. But yeah, I mean, that's the only other thing that I have slightly begun to see.

47:53Obviously, I think we're definitely going to get a mindset change on crypto Twitter now that they've banned Kaito and all that slop. I thought Kaito itself was slop, but the incentivized hosting or yapping. So all those people are going to have something, a lot of free time and probably just some leftover capital. They're going to have to find something to do, which is kind of how we ended up with that mean run back two years ago. all the NFT people that kind of like have to move on to bigger and better things or just different things. So I'd definitely be keeping an eye to see like what that translates into.

48:33But again, like, you know, I'm working 20-hour days and just focused on meetings and like I'm training for like an endurance race. So I wish I had more hours a day. I don't know how you do it, man. You're running like three companies, hosting the stream, trading. It's a lot, man. Definitely, definitely. I mean, I think that's just natural. Like, coming from Tradfire, you're just kind of used to working hard, I feel like. But it's been a lot recently. That's for certain. But it keeps you, you know, I'm young. It keeps me young. It keeps me young to do all that. I was just a sales guy, so I just had to look handsome and smile, and that was it.

49:12Yeah, no. I'm used to having to juggle a lot of different things from a trading background. like it's it's just kind of it's kind of inbuilt to to do that sort of stuff but yeah there isn't much else right now like it was there was maybe at the start of this week when big chrome was heading back towards 100k if that like and there were a few narratives that suddenly felt like oh every altcoin is going to go but the only real ones that have held on to their gains are kind of the mages and xmr monero on the privacy angle other than that and maybe pump fun that that's had a good week but other than that it's been a bit it's been a bit mixed i i'll repeat it again though i am bullish uh at the moment i do think i do think i'm gonna have a decent uh next week well i'll tell you what i'll i'll ask the audience people are going to the crypto gathering please do talk about what you guys are like looking forward in this year and then let us know because i won't be there and i think it's again plugging it shamelessly plug it because i do think it's a great event, by the way.

50:12But I think that's the kind of stuff that you are all tuned in for. Finding those hype minds and the ability to share ideas. Yeah, I mean, you and I worked at Bargers. I wish we had stayed closer back in 21 and I would have traded you on H a little bit more. But everybody that's going to the crypto gathering, please, please, I would love to hear what the top three themes are. Because while there's panels and stuff um well at least there was this year i don't know what the formats are this year but it was those conversations you know uh afterwards the social events that to me really added um a ton of value to to be in there and and i think it's super important people take advantage of those opportunities i completely agree we should maybe come to go to some of the questions now uh there are a few and i think we'll do it just before time so ira on x ira uh from 2027 europe will ban anonymous wallets and privacy coins what could the impact be um i think europe is is kind of gone down the route it's too far gone now uh i i think crypto in europe is going to feel quite different to crypto in other places over the next few years So I think expect it to be a bit more like how it is in some of the Asian countries where majority of stuff has to happen on exchanges.

51:40And maybe there's integrations to DeFi via exchanges, but it's going to be a bit more like having a bank account, I think, than having self-custody. So I think just prepare for that sort of a world, if I'm honest. I think it is coming in 2027 and onwards. Do you have any strong view on that? I guess you're the European. I agree. I feel like, you know, again, making some trade-offs between protection, regulation, and then all that stuff. So good luck to you guys over there. But yeah, I agree with you. I think innovation continues to get stifled in Europe. And obviously, crypto is a big part of that.

52:23Okay, next one. Bobby on Real Vision. if the markets were to go up what coins or narratives other than ETH do you think would benefit most from it in a three to six month time horizon?

52:37Difficult to say right now. Because it depends on why, right? Like why is the market going up? Is it because stability or is it because like, you know, that's like, you know, Powell does step down and they go and cut 50 base points in the first, like the next thing. Like, I feel like it's Yeah, I don't know. What are you going to say? It really depends. Right now, the hottest narratives of what we just said, it's L1s plus, or at least mages, let's say, plus privacy, and then little bits of DeFi feel strong. I don't know if this Clarity Act failing is good or bad for DeFi. You can kind of look at it both ways, but maybe we see a world where they're allowed to do things and revenues for things like Hyperliquid continue to go higher.

53:31I think there's been a bit of a shot across the bow against Hyperliquid over the last few months with like competitors and it's actually come out relatively well in terms of market share. So I like that one. I like, obviously we've spoken about some of the NFT coins. Obviously I'm involved with Rex. So I think that's an interesting one there from a coin perspective. The L1s have been much more mixed on recently, but I like ETH's story, if I'm honest. ETH is my favorite story out of the L1s. And then Bitcoin, I think, would be more of a narrative around gold going higher and it's like a catch-up trade.

54:09In the privacy coins, I prefer Monero over Zcash. Just from a setup, like you just said, I feel like Zcash just feels a bit too coordinated for my liking. And then BNB, maybe. I think BNB is an interesting one because it kind of melds a L1 with a platform. And I can only really see Binance as an entity growing over the next few years. So I think I'd like that one. I mean, do you really buy altcoins at all, Zajito? Altcoins are just extraction vehicles, in my opinion. And so, yeah, altcoins are great if you can buy them before the public and then sell them. Other than that, I mean, and I don't mean like all people are doing crime.

55:01There's some of that. But if you look at like Uniswap and Aave, I mean, these are DeFi protocols that are market leaders, high deposit bases and a lot of the banks, just really, you know, like the sector themselves. And the tokens just are one way only. You have like little periods of excitement. But they're massively down. It will continue to be down. Because if you actually look at the way those businesses get funded, it is through selling those tokens as time goes by. And so, yeah, it's quite difficult for me to get comfortable with something that cannot... That has a natural seller, a very large natural seller.

55:47And unless they're able to really do something extremely different, like the narrative side, versus just you're going to have a... Everybody gives the EF shit about selling E because it's public. But every other... Anything that has a token, once the lockup expires, Even before that, they find ways to sell it. That's what funds everything. And so, yeah, I'm not going to be that ex-liquidity for the lucky ones that have the tokens before I do. So, again, I'm not really a trader. Obviously, there's trading setups across all of them and they're really good. But I think to answer your question, no, I don't.

56:33and the few things that I've held on to that I've actually received as airdrops have just been a mess because I have owed taxes on really high valuations when they launched and then 10 months later, they're absolute dust. So I'd rather just... If I'm going to buy something that potentially is ulti, it's just JPEGs. Yeah. Okay. Let me have a look. are we saturating our third rules our third of rules on YouTube says are we saturating our own market exhausting a limited user base means NFTs have rinsed a lot of liquidity for the community how do these projects build long-term value but I think we've just spoken about how I think I see a lot more of that happening in the NFT space than I do in the coin space there was something the other day which is like the number of coins released or that have failed CoinGecko put out a thing and it was like 2 ,000 in 2021 and something like 10 million in 2025.

57:40Obviously, that has caused massive dilution in the coin space. That doesn't necessarily mean that you can't find winners, but I would completely agree. That kind of goes to what Sergito's point is. Altcoins as an asset class have become a lot more difficult when there's millions versus 2 ,000 when I kind of came into crypto. So I would agree with you. That doesn't necessarily mean that you can't see a lot of value in the teams that are actually building the right stuff. So I think we're seeing that with NFTs, some things in meme coins, but it's mainly in NFTs that see that. Yeah, for NFTs, I think, you know, there's still the question of how does the NFT accrue value.

58:29I think there's two answers to that. And I don't think most NFTs have this, right? So there's the new strategy model we talked about last time in the fall, where some of the teams like GBC and Chimpers are using the royalties from the trading to kind of like spin the flywheel and like align volumes and levels with our community. And then I would just throw our hat, our name in the hat at Meetco, we own 870 MiBits. So we're fully aligned for the long-term value of MiBits themselves. But overall, for the industry, it is a problem that the traditional way of generating revenue, which is royalties, is gone.

59:10And so we have this weird dilemma because somebody buys, for example, a MiBit. In secondary, there's marketplaces, but there's no royalties. And they pay$1 ,500 to$1 ,000 for a MiBit. They don't pay anything to us, to the company. but then now they have an expectation of value or something. They're expecting something from the company. So it does become a little bit of an interesting dance that teams have to do. And I think that's why it's super cool that instead of trying to go for one specific solution, we're seeing so many different teams try all of the different routes. So I would say definitely try to find the one that vibes more with what you think the future looks like and then go with that.

59:59And I think those at the end of the day are probably going to be the winners individually. So hopefully it's art and we're doing our job well. And maybe it's our next two punks in the moment a few years. I agree. Look, I increasingly think that the best trades in crypto are around the things built on crypto. I think we're in that sort of world where it's the apps or communities that are built on top of the technology. I think that's where you're going to have the most parabolic gains from here. And I still think that that is going to coalesce around some of these sort of NFT communities or it's going to coalesce around very organized kind of DeFi protocols or let's say DAP teams that I think are going to come out with exciting products.

1:00:47So I think there is a lot of value in there. You've just got to look for it. Sri on the RV website, if someone wants to get an NFT to learn, have fun and meet people, what is a good starting point? So G2, I'm just going to throw that one straight to you. What's a good starting point? I think it really depends on your budget. I wouldn't spend, even if you have a lot of money to spend on one, I wouldn't spend more than 50 bucks on one. just to get started or learn. And then, you know, it's kind of like if you're getting started and like, you know, you want to become a football fan. And you're like, hey, I want to cheer for a team.

1:01:27Which one should I cheer for? You probably want to watch a few games. You probably have a chance to go to a few stadiums to see which community, which fan base you vibe the most with. And then you can make a pick. I think for NFT is the same way. So you'll find that the NFT community is extremely, for the most part, friendly and open to onboarding new people. And so I think art's a good place to start. There's a lot of very inexpensive art. And this is like the 6529 memes where Mimits has a drop today, for example. Really good place to start and just talking to others and really just learning that way first before like really committing any type of capital.

1:02:06I think that applies for crypto overall too. Like we know which coin should I buy. Like definitely, you know, all the resources are free. go out there and like develop a view and then ask for some help, ask some questions and then move on to the next step, which is acquiring it. Yeah, I agree. I think you can lose a lot of money if you decide, oh, I'm just going to splurge. I think you can take your time. With NFCs, it's kind of easy because there's only really a handful of teams that are still like really shipping amazing things. They're expensive, right? If you think about the top 25 projects, the lowest floor is probably like a point, call it a tweet, like World of Women.

1:02:49It's like a point tweet floor. That's still$700. That's a ton of money. There are NFT communities on A-chain that are a lot less expensive to join. Yeah, you could do that. You could go down the different chain route. But yeah, you'll just, I think, get used to the technology if you're looking through that. I would say that being close to the Lava Labs originals is a good point. Art Blocks has been a good community to kind of join in. You could always get a rec guy if you're so inclined. There's sub-communities that are still going, but those are ones I really enjoy. Okay, that was it for all the questions.

1:03:32We ran over slightly. Sorry, guys. anyway I will see a lot of you next week really looking forward to it again Sergito pleasure always having you I'm sorry I'm not seeing you next week I have a great time in California and we will see you again I guess in like a month or something and you can tell us all about it sounds good thank you Mando alright bye guys

1:04:21you obviously enjoyed the episode because you're here with me at the end but listen don't forget to go to realvision.com forward slash join and grab a free membership it's an incredible community packed with alpha, great investment ideas, and the research that you need to help you unfuck your future. So get started now. Go to realvision.com forward slash join. Ever wanted to explore the world of online trading, but haven't dared try? The futures market is more active now than ever, and Plus 500 Futures is the perfect place to start. Plus 500 gives you access to a wide range of instruments, S &P 500, Nasdaq, Bitcoin, gas, and much more.

1:05:03Explore equity indices, energy, metals, forex, crypto, and beyond. With a simple and intuitive platform, you can trade from anywhere, right from your phone. Deposit with a minimum of$100 and experience the fast, accessible futures trading you've been waiting for. See a trading opportunity? You'll be able to trade in just two clicks once your account is open. Not sure if you're ready? Not a problem. Plus500 gives you an unlimited risk-free demo account with charts and analytic tools for you to practice on. With over 20 years of experience, Plus500 is your gateway to the markets. Visit us at plus500.com to learn more.

1:05:42Trading in futures involves the risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone. Not all applicants will qualify. Plus500, it's trading with a plus.

From the publisher

☀️ Crypto Gathering Miami 2026: not everyone wants the full conference sprint. That’s why there’s the Social Pass ($300): welcome drinks, beach party, and Drinks with @RaoulGMI LIVE 🍷
☀️ Right now it’s BOGO... bring a friend or split the cost
☀️ Get it now: https://rvtv.io/4hYsZkc

This week on REKT Vision, Mando, Rekt co-founder and author of the Mando Minutes newsletter, is joined by Sergito, CEO of The Meebit Company. They discuss the price action, whether BTC is set up to return to six figures, NFTs, crypto regulation, and much more.

📣 Today’s sponsor is Plus500 US. Take your trading to the next level with cross-market contracts, from precious metals to key indices, and more. Whether you’re a seasoned trader in the Futures arena or brand new, Plus500’s user-friendly trading platform offers you the advanced tools, market insights, and quick execution you’ve been looking for.

👉 Get started with Plus500 for as little as $100 at https://us.plus500.com. Trading in futures involves the risk of loss.

🔥 *Download Raoul Pal's 5-year investing roadmap for free:* https://rvtv.io/41fVHWF

About Real Vision™:
We arm you with the knowledge, tools, and network to succeed on your financial journey.

Connect with Real Vision™ Online:
Website: https://www.realvision.com/join
Twitter: https://rvtv.io/twitter
Instagram: https://rvtv.io/instagram
Linkedin: https://rvtv.io/linkedin

👉 Join our Discord channel and meet like-minded people: discord.com/invite/kYQY2Nd45Y

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More from Real Vision: Finance & Investing

All 984 episodes
Is Bitcoin on the Way Back to $100,000?Real Vision: Finance & Investing · 1 h 8 min
Listen in VO