In this episode, Santi and Jason discuss the SAB-121 vote with Blockworks' Senior Reporter Casey Wagner, unpacking its bipartisan political support and huge implications for crypto. They cover the DOJ's charges in the $25M MEV boost exploit, the resurgence of meme stock mania with GameStop, and the ongoing Pump.Fun exploit drama. Santi shares his framework for valuing L1 and L2 blockchains based on total economic value. They close our by highlighting insights from DBA's research day and share their favorite youtube comments. Enjoy!

- -

Follow Casey: https://x.com/caseywagnerr

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

- -

Sei Labs believes the EVM is here to stay.

By providing the fastest time to finality of any chain, thousands of transactions per second and full backwards compatibility with the EVM, Ethereum developers can try out a brand new design space for their applications.

Try out sei v2 devnet - visit the new sei.io to find out more.

- -

This episode is brought to you by Aura, the AI-powered digital security protection app that keeps your personal information, passwords, online activity, and tech safe from digital threats. It’s all-in-one protection from identity theft, financial fraud, malware, scams, and more.

For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14-day FREE trial plus up to 55% off an Aura subscription.

Visit aura.com/blockworks to sign up for your free trial.

- -

SKALE is a modular, AppChain network that offers zero gas fee transactions and instant finality. Tailored for ease of development and onboarding, SKALE's configurable EVM chains enable next-gen use cases in gaming, AI, DePin, and others. With over 20,000,000 users having saved over $6 Billion on gas fees, SKALE is the blockchain for mass adoption.

Bridge to SKALE at portal.skale.space and stay up to date with the gasless blockchain at @skalenetwork

- -

Kinto is the Safety-first L2 designed to accelerate the transition to an on-chain financial system.

If you believe in this on-chain financial system, join Kinto's launch program (Engen) and become a founding member at engen.kinto.xyz

- -

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

02:12 SAB 21 Vote

12:51 Crypto Voting in the US

28:00 MEV Boost Exploiters Charged by DOJ

36:02 SEI Ad

37:01 Aura Ad

37:49 Kinto Ad

38:45 Skale Ad

40:02 PumpFun Exploit

45:08 Youtube Comment Hate

47:11 GameStop Return

52:06 DBA Research Day

55:54 How to Value L1s & L2s

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This week we discuss is it time to be bullish or bearish? As markets continue to chop sideways, we discuss how now is the time to consolidate your portfolio into high conviction bets & what to expect in the coming weeks on the back of a bullish CPI print that gave resurgence to an otherwise sleepy market. Enjoy!

--

Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman

Follow Jonah: https://twitter.com/jvb_xyz

Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

--

Perennial is an on-chain derivatives protocol built from first principles to be a DeFi primitive. The core protocol is minimalist, flexible, and efficient, allowing Perennial to mold to the needs of many different users & use cases.

Perennial has a super efficient core protocol that lets LPs use native maker leverage — allowing $1mn in TVL to back to $5-10mn in Open interest.

Trade and LP at: https://perennial.finance/1000x

Social: https://twitter.com/perenniallabs

--

Timestamps:

(0:00) Introduction

(2:10) Expect More Chop

(10:31) Bitcoin vs Gold ETFs

(18:25) Perennial Ad

(19:57) Meme Coins

(25:34) Time To Be Bullish Or Bearish?

(30:32) The ETH ETF

(40:12) The Return Of Roaring Kitty

--

Disclaimer: Nothing said on 1000x is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Avi, Jonah and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In today's episode Jason is joined by Arthur of DeFiance Capital and Sean of Fintech Collective. They kick off the episode by discussing the current state of token launches, highlighting the unsustainable model of low float and high fully diluted valuations that often leave retail investors at a disadvantage. They explore the challenges in accurately valuing crypto assets and the need for better alignment of incentives between teams, investors, and the broader market. The episode concludes with Arthur and Sean sharing their high-conviction bets for this market cycle. Thanks for tuning in!

- -

Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis.

Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire

Follow Arthur: https://twitter.com/Arthur_0x

Follow Sean: https://twitter.com/seanlippel

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

- -

Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all. 

Get started at:

portal.arbitrum.io 

- -

This episode is brought to you by Aura, the AI-powered digital security protection app that keeps your personal information, passwords, online activity, and tech safe from digital threats. It’s all-in-one protection from identity theft, financial fraud, malware, scams, and more.

For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14-day FREE trial plus up to 55% off an Aura subscription.

Visit aura.com/blockworks to sign up for your free trial.

- -

SKALE is a modular, AppChain network that offers zero gas fee transactions and instant finality. Tailored for ease of development and onboarding, SKALE's configurable EVM chains enable next-gen use cases in gaming, AI, DePin, and others. With over 20,000,000 users having saved over $6 Billion on gas fees, SKALE is the blockchain for mass adoption.

Bridge to SKALE at portal.skale.space and stay up to date with the gasless blockchain at @skalenetwork

- -

Kinto is the Safety-first L2 designed to accelerate the transition to an on-chain financial system.

If you believe in this on-chain financial system, join Kinto's launch program (Engen) and become a founding member at engen.kinto.xyz

- -

Timestamps:

(0:00) Introduction

(01:52) Crypto VCs are Broken

(14:31) Best Token Launch Model

(22:11) Valuing Crypto Assets

(29:20) Arbitrum Ad

(30:08) Aura Ad

(30:56) Kinto Ad

(31:52) Skale Ad

(33:08) Evaluating LDO & ETHFI

(51:57) Active Investments

(57:51) Highest Conviction Bets

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode, Santi and Yano kick off the episode by discussing the market's choppy consolidation period and comparing it to previous cycles. They delve into the emergence of social finance apps like Fantasy and Pump Dot Fun, and explore the dynamics of high FDV, low float tokens and the role of VCs in the industry. Santi then breaks down his Coinbase and Solana trades. To close out they touch on WIF's strong performance despite the choppy period and its cycle potential. Thanks for tuning in!

- -

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

- -

Sei Labs believes the EVM is here to stay.

By providing the fastest time to finality of any chain, thousands of transactions per second and full backwards compatibility with the EVM, Ethereum developers can try out a brand new design space for their applications.

Try out sei v2 devnet - visit the new sei.io to find out more.

- -

This episode is brought to you by Aura, the AI-powered digital security protection app that keeps your personal information, passwords, online activity, and tech safe from digital threats. It’s all-in-one protection from identity theft, financial fraud, malware, scams, and more.

For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14-day FREE trial plus up to 55% off an Aura subscription.

Visit aura.com/blockworks to sign up for your free trial.

- -

Mantle Network is an Ethereum Layer 2 that aims to bring super-scalability to Ethereum by taking a modular approach that offers low fees and high security.

Mantle recently launched their airdrop program "Rewards Station" to holders of its native token, $MNT. The Rewards Station program distributes pre-sale token allocations or listed token to $MNT holders who stake their $MNT.

Check out the rewards station: https://www.mantle.xyz/rewards-station

- -

Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.

https://blckwrks.co/Marinade

- -

Timestamps:

(00:00) Yano's Fashion Advice

(06:07) Is this Cycle Different?

(13:39) Focusing a Portfolio

(17:42) Blockworks Podcast Thesis

(23:30) Crypto's SocialFi Era

(39:24) Sei Ad

(40:22) Aura Ad

(41:11) Marinade Ad

(42:15) Skale Ad

(43:32) Are Points Over?

(49:15) Coinbase Earnings

(01:00:42) Memecoin Thesis

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode, we sit down with Bill Barhydt, CEO and founder of Abra, to discuss the company's journey through the crypto lending crash and their groundbreaking SEC approval as a registered investment advisor. Bill shares insights on the benefits of separately managed accounts (SMAs) in the crypto space and how they differ from the pooled funds model that led to the downfall of many crypto lenders. He also dives into the future of banking, which he believes will be shaped by the tokenization of real-world assets, access to DeFi, and the use of SMAs to minimize risk. The conversation also touches on the current regulatory landscape in the U.S., the potential impact of the upcoming election on the crypto industry, and Abra's vision of empowering people to be their own bank. Enjoy!

- -

Follow Bill: https://twitter.com/billbarX

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis.

Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news.

Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

- -

Get your tickets to permissionless before prices go up!

Use code EMPIRE10 at checkout for 10% off your ticket.

https://blockworks.co/permissionless

- -

Timestamps

(0:00) Introduction

(1:15) Why Crypto Banks Blew Up

(14:48) SMA Model Standard

(17:38) Smart Contract Risk

(20:07) DeFi Platform Selection & Yield

(23:59) Future of Crypto Lending

(29:23) Macro Outlook

(34:13) Impact of Election on Crypto

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.t

In this episode, Jason is joined by Dave Ripley, CEO of Kraken. They discuss the challenges and opportunities of operating a major crypto exchange over the past year. Dave dives into Kraken's focus on professional traders, their expansion into retail markets, and the importance of building a bridge between traditional finance and the crypto ecosystem. Dave also shares insights on navigating market cycles as a crypto business, the value of hiring crypto-native talent, and his thoughts on the future of centralized exchanges as more activity moves on-chain.

- -

Follow Dave: https://twitter.com/DavidLRipley

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

- -

Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all. 

Get started at:

portal.arbitrum.io 

- -

This episode is brought to you by Aura, the AI-powered digital security protection app that keeps your personal information, passwords, online activity, and tech safe from digital threats. It’s all-in-one protection from identity theft, financial fraud, malware, scams, and more.

For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14-day FREE trial plus up to 55% off an Aura subscription.

Visit aura.com/blockworks to sign up for your free trial.

- -

SKALE is a modular, AppChain network that offers zero gas fee transactions and instant finality. Tailored for ease of development and onboarding, SKALE's configurable EVM chains enable next-gen use cases in gaming, AI, DePin, and others. With over 20,000,000 users having saved over $6 Billion on gas fees, SKALE is the blockchain for mass adoption.

Bridge to SKALE at portal.skale.space and stay up to date with the gasless blockchain at @skalenetwork

- -

Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.

https://blckwrks.co/Marinade

- -

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

02:18 Dave's Kraken Origin Story

11:07 Kraken User Strategy

23:12 Kraken's 5 Year Business Model

32:02 Arbitrum Ad

32:49 Aura Ad

33:38 Marinade Ad

34:42 Skale Ad

35:59 Regulatory Concerns of L2s

43:40 24/7 NYSE

51:30 Operating in Market Cycles

58:28 Best People to Hire

01:02:01 This Cycle's Expectation

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.t

In this episode, Santi is joined by Neil, head of ecosystem at Aptos, and Rushi, founder of Movement Labs, to discuss the Aptos ecosystem and the Move programming language. They dive into the unique features and benefits of Move, the importance of security in blockchain development, and the collaborative efforts to grow the Move ecosystem. Neil and Rushi also share insights on the impressive growth and adoption of Aptos, as well as their focus on empowering builders and democratizing access to Move. Thanks for tuning in!

- -

Follow Rushi: https://twitter.com/rushimanche

Follow Neil: https://twitter.com/neilhar_

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

- -

Sei Labs believes the EVM is here to stay.

By providing the fastest time to finality of any chain, thousands of transactions per second and full backwards compatibility with the EVM, Ethereum developers can try out a brand new design space for their applications.

Try out sei v2 devnet - visit the new sei.io to find out more.

- -

This episode is brought to you by Aura, the AI-powered digital security protection app that keeps your personal information, passwords, online activity, and tech safe from digital threats. It’s all-in-one protection from identity theft, financial fraud, malware, scams, and more.

For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14-day FREE trial plus up to 55% off an Aura subscription.

Visit aura.com/blockworks to sign up for your free trial.

- -

Mantle Network is an Ethereum Layer 2 that aims to bring super-scalability to Ethereum by taking a modular approach that offers low fees and high security.

Mantle recently launched their airdrop program "Rewards Station" to holders of its native token, $MNT. The Rewards Station program distributes pre-sale token allocations or listed token to $MNT holders who stake their $MNT.

Check out the rewards station: https://www.mantle.xyz/rewards-station

- -

Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.

https://blckwrks.co/Marinade

- -

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(06:26) Why Aptos & Move Language

(19:18) Institutional Support

(29:00) Aptos Roadmap

(35:06) Sei ad

(36:04) Aura Ad

(36:52) Marinade Ad

(37:57) Mantle Ad

(38:54) Onchain User Behaviors

(46:05) TVL Growth Strategy

(59:56) Move Alternative Chains

(01:09:11) Integrated vs Modular

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

This week we discuss is it time to buy the dip? After calling the local top at $70k, is the setup more bullish now for a continued bull market post halving? We deep dive into the bull case for ETH, finding the next big trade, structuring a trade & finding alpha. Enjoy!

--

Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman

Follow Jonah: https://twitter.com/jvb_xyz

Follow 1000x: https://twitter.com/1000xPod

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

--

Perennial is an on-chain derivatives protocol built from first principles to be a DeFi primitive. The core protocol is minimalist, flexible, and efficient, allowing Perennial to mold to the needs of many different users & use cases.

Perennial has a super efficient core protocol that lets LPs use native maker leverage — allowing $1mn in TVL to back to $5-10mn in Open interest.

Trade and LP at: https://perennial.finance/1000x

Social: https://twitter.com/perenniallabs

--

Timestamps:

(0:00) Turning Bearish At $70k, Time To Flip Bullish?

(12:45) Perennial Ad

(14:17) The Bull Case For ETH

(23:16) Beaten Down Projects, Supply Unlocks & Finding The Next Big Trade

(30:51) Staking vs Supply Dilution

(32:30) TradFi Risk-Off

(38:26) Trade Structure & Grok For Alpha

--

Disclaimer: Nothing said on 1000x is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Avi, Jonah and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode, Santi & Jason talk with Avi and Ro about the current state of the crypto market cycle in both private and liquid markets. They discuss Avi's "bearish" outlook driven by diminishing ETF inflows and stablecoin market caps, Ro's perspective on crywpto venture investing, and how this cycle compares to the last one. The conversation dives into the Solana IOUs auction, the upcoming Ethereum ETF catalyst, and the (un)productive nature of assets like Eigen Layer's restaking product and Bitcoin DeFi. Avi and Ro also outline their framework for crypto portfolio construction and the key indicators they watch. The episode concludes with their 12-month price predictions for BTC, ETH and SOL.

- -

Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AviFelman

Follow Ro: https://twitter.com/roshunpatel

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

- -

Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all. 

Get started at:

portal.arbitrum.io 

- -

This episode is brought to you by Aura, the AI-powered digital security protection app that keeps your personal information, passwords, online activity, and tech safe from digital threats. It’s all-in-one protection from identity theft, financial fraud, malware, scams, and more.

For a limited time, Aura is offering our listeners a 14-day FREE trial plus up to 55% off an Aura subscription.

Visit aura.com/blockworks to sign up for your free trial.

- -

SKALE is a modular, AppChain network that offers zero gas fee transactions and instant finality. Tailored for ease of development and onboarding, SKALE's configurable EVM chains enable next-gen use cases in gaming, AI, DePin, and others. With over 20,000,000 users having saved over $6 Billion on gas fees, SKALE is the blockchain for mass adoption.

Bridge to SKALE at portal.skale.space and stay up to date with the gasless blockchain at @skalenetwork

- -

Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.

https://blckwrks.co/Marinade

- -

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(04:28) Avi's Bearish Take

(09:41) Ro's Private Market Perspective

(16:42) Ethereum's Bull Case

(27:42) Private & Liquid Ratio

(36:49) Arbitrum Ad

(37:26) Aura Ad

(38:25) Marinade Ad

(39:29) SKALE ad

(40:46) Solana's Trade

(45:44) Cycle Timing & Comparison

(54:23) Fundamentals of DeFi

(01:01:06) What Everyone is Missing?

(01:11:14) Price Predictions

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this episode of Empire, Jason and Santi are joined by special guest Kyle Samani to dive deep into valuing L1 and L2 crypto assets. The conversation covers the importance of MEV as the primary value accrual mechanism rather than transaction fees, the challenges in standardizing valuations across different blockchain architectures, and the evolving fee market designs. They also discuss the true costs and benefits of token airdrops for bootstrapping ecosystems. Thanks for tuning in!

Sign up for the Empire newsletter: https://empire-31ed59.beehiiv.com/subscribe

- -

Resources

https://youtu.be/aCHY9iPS8sI?feature=shared

https://x.com/kylesamani/status/1721964311008956809

- -

Follow Kyle: https://twitter.com/KyleSamani

Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz

Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel

Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod

Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j

Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7

Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

- -

Sei Labs believes the EVM is here to stay.

By providing the fastest time to finality of any chain, thousands of transactions per second and full backwards compatibility with the EVM, Ethereum developers can try out a brand new design space for their applications.

Try out sei v2 devnet - visit the new sei.io to find out more.

- -

Mantle Network is an Ethereum Layer 2 that aims to bring super-scalability to Ethereum by taking a modular approach that offers low fees and high security.

Mantle recently launched their airdrop program "Rewards Station" to holders of its native token, $MNT. The Rewards Station program distributes pre-sale token allocations or listed token to $MNT holders who stake their $MNT.

Check out the rewards station: https://www.mantle.xyz/rewards-station

- -

Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses.

If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad

- -

Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards.

Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk.

Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.

https://blckwrks.co/Marinade

- -

Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:43) Crypto as Commodities

(08:50) MEV Fee Stream for Networks

(18:53) L1 Token Valuation

(21:31) Updated Solana Thesis

(33:160 SEI Ad

(34:14) Monad Ad

(35:12) Marinade Ad

(36:17) Mantle Ad

(37:14) Fee Markets & Performant Infra Valuations

(42:40) Income Statements of L1s & L2s

(58:10) Cost of Airdrops

- -

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

In this deep dive episode, Brandon Curtis (Rio), Myles O'Neil (Reverie), and Ryan West (Blockworks Research) unpack the emerging world of restaking on Ethereum. The conversation starts with a detailed look at the restaking supply chain, from ETH deposits in LRTs to securing AVSs. The group discusses the key differences between LRTs and LSTs, yield strategies, and fragmented user preferences. They also explore the dynamics between LRTs and AVSs, including the leverage AVSs currently have and the challenges with off-chain "handshake" agreements. Thanks for tuning in!

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Arbitrum is a game-changer for daily Ethereum's users and developers, offering top applications and lower fees. As the leading scaling solution with 600+ apps, explore Arbitrum’s Portal to find your perfect fit. Interact with the home of DeFi, a flourishing NFT and creator ecosystem, and a rapidly growing Web3 gaming hub – Arbitrum has it all. 

Get started at:

portal.arbitrum.io 

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Monad is a fully EVM compatible Layer 1 blockchain that can support 10,000 real transactions per second. Monad aims to open up the design space for the EVM to support high fidelity defi, consumer facing applications, and more generally allow crypto to scale to the masses.

If you are interested in participating in Monad's journey, follow: https://twitter.com/monad_xyz and join: https://discord.gg/monad

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SKALE is a modular, AppChain network that offers zero gas fee transactions and instant finality. Tailored for ease of development and onboarding, SKALE's configurable EVM chains enable next-gen use cases in gaming, AI, DePin, and others. With over 20,000,000 users having saved over $6 Billion on gas fees, SKALE is the blockchain for mass adoption.

Bridge to SKALE at portal.skale.space and stay up to date with the gasless blockchain at @skalenetwork

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Marinade is the leading Solana staking service that spreads your stake across 100+ top validators, distributes MEV rewards, and provides automatic downside protection with new Protected Staking Rewards. Choose to liquid stake for mSOL for use in DeFi, or delegate your stake through Marinade Native, which gives you full custody of your SOL and no smart contract risk. Max performance for you, max performance for Solana.

https://blckwrks.co/Marinade

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Timestamps:

00:00 intro

02:37 Restaking Supply Chain

10:56 Restaking Today

18:11 LRTs & AVS Dynamics

30:54 LRT Selection Process

41:21 AVS Leverage Advantage

45:21 Arbitrum Ad

46:09 Monad Ad

47:07 Marinade Ad

48:12 Skale Ad

49:28 AVS Security

55:09 LRTs vs LSTs

01:07:06 LRT Risk & Yield Strategies

01:17:07 Native vs External Staking

01:26:26 Eigen Layer Competitors

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Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.