Bankless

A single Vitalik tweet just snapped Ethereum’s scaling narrative into focus: the rollup-centric roadmap is over, and a new path is here. Ryan and David break down what Vitalik actually said (and what he didn’t), why stage 2 plus rollup interop proved far slower than anyone hoped, and why L1 scaling, powered by ZK, may be Ethereum’s real reset button in 2026. Along the way, they unpack the quiet death of the “L2s are Ethereum” meme, the community’s whiplash reaction, and what differentiated “gen 2” L2s must do to earn their place in the alliance.

---

📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24
https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium

---
🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET
https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast

🃏SHOWDOWN | NEXT-GEN POKER
https://bankless.cc/showdown

🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT
https://bankless.cc/bitget

👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES
https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium

🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS
https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro

💰ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES
https://bankless.cc/ico-watch

---
TIMESTAMPS

0:00 The Rollup-Centric Roadmap: 2020 → 2026
1:26 What Vitalik Actually Said
3:15 The Understated Bombshell: L1 Scaling + ZKVM
6:28 “Branded Shards” Are Over
8:12 “L2s Are Ethereum” Is Dead (But Not the Alliance)
12:29 Vitalik’s Follow-Up: Differentiation Wins
15:51 The Reaction: Praise, “I Told You So,” and Anger
18:23 The NATO Analogy for L2s
20:51 The Messaging Risk: Does Ethereum Push Rollups Away?
23:25 Why Did It Take So Long to Say This Out Loud?
30:09 Was Modular Wrong? What We Thought vs What We Got
33:20 Ryan’s Retrospective: Wins + Three Missteps
38:01 David’s Take: ZKVM Precompile = “Manhattan Project”
39:57 The Cost: Wasted Time, Misallocated Capital, Leadership Tension
45:39 What Happens Next: Base Leaving, New North Star, Anyone’s Game
51:04 Signs the Pivot Is Working

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Crypto enters a full-blown pain market as Bitcoin, ETH, tech stocks, and even gold sell off together. Ryan and David break down why crowded trades are unwinding across markets, what the Warsh Fed chair pick means for rates and risk assets, and whether crypto has become uniquely fragile in this cycle. They dig into Vitalik’s L2 pivot and what it signals about Ethereum’s next era, unpack massive institutional paper losses at Strategy, BitMine, and Galaxy, and analyze Polymarket odds on where Bitcoin goes next. Plus: OGs selling to ETF buyers, the Clarity Act standoff between banks and crypto, and how to survive the psychology of a real bear market.

---

📣KRAKEN | DEFI EARN

https://bankless.cc/Kraken

---

BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET

https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast

🃏SHOWDOWN | NEXT-GEN POKER

https://bankless.cc/showdown

🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT

https://bankless.cc/bitget

👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES

https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium

🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS

https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro

💰ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES

https://bankless.cc/ico-watch

---

TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

3:23 Markets

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2019413451471483282

https://x.com/MelMattison1/status/2018821072934846482

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2018215213959729487

https://imgur.com/xGMBu9p

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin

https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/ethereum

https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2017679054619414773

https://x.com/AggrNews/status/2017670162481053771

https://imgur.com/fOOPShT

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2018251708833669137

https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2018317901682373032

https://x.com/mmmikema/status/2017517404461666668

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/02/04/tom-lee-says-bitmine-s-usd6-billion-ether-paper-loss-is-by-design

https://x.com/deitaone/status/2018680207368950085

https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2018698942083412050

https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2017655487936807237

https://polymarket.com/event/what-price-will-bitcoin-hit-before-2027/?via=bankless

https://x.com/ericbalchunas/status/2019079756008800685

https://x.com/Matt_Hougan/status/2018695396386570257

https://x.com/Zeneca/status/2017713330341953547

24:49 Federal Reserve & Kevin Warsh

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2017204939139764607

https://x.com/AshCrypto/status/2017223525522919707

https://x.com/Eric_BIGfund/status/2017077398479470788 

https://x.com/shahh/status/2017266603126292607

https://x.com/avichal/status/2017107032034464256

https://x.com/RayDalio/status/2017687126926602643

https://x.com/LukeGromen/status/2013334684130746521

https://x.com/AltcoinDaily/status/2017296093621719062

31:57 Ethereum Roadmap Pivot

https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2018727620624384059

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1267464298919534593

https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2019341766407725170

https://x.com/tkstanczak/status/2018969582506328077

https://x.com/haydenzadams/status/2018739946706596309

https://x.com/RyanWatkins_/status/2018722118955913367

https://x.com/josephdelong/status/2019116049694880021

https://x.com/Shaughnessy119/status/2018745708648574999

https://x.com/KhanAbbas201/status/2019155752955289652

45:16 Clarity Act & Stablecoin Yield

https://x.com/coinbureau/status/2016953240601186316

https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/2017622525987954840

https://x.com/aosipovich/status/2017173012546486292

https://x.com/Bankless/status/2017335175533715783

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/02/02/white-house-crypto-meeting-on-market-structure-bill

https://x.com/BrendanPedersen/status/2018456230214435027

https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2018472709622292899

https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2019207030276300833 

https://polymarket.com/event/clarity-act-signed-into-law-in-2026/?via=bankless

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/02/03/trump-adviser-says-white-house-won-t-allow-crypto-bill-to-attack-president-on-ethics

https://x.com/tier10k/status/2017780627894898788

https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2018467240136294821 

https://x.com/NeerajKA/status/2019108061969866759 

57:05 MetaMask Stocks & Bitwise Acquisition

https://x.com/OndoFinance/status/2018722106553348414

https://www.theblock.co/post/388379/bitwise-acquires-chorus-one

https://www.8004scan.io

58:31 Polymarket & Culture

https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2018731372920344582

https://x.com/litcapital/status/2018734492999885030

https://x.com/nycmayor/status/2019105073423327680

https://polymarket.com/sports/nfl/games/week/15/nfl-sea-ne-2026-02-08/?via=bankless

1:03:02 Closing & Disclaimers

1:03:18 Moment of Zen

https://x.com/tomwarren/status/2019039874771550516 

---

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

AI agents aren’t “coming” to Ethereum—they’re already here, spinning up on dedicated machines, clicking through wallets, deploying contracts, and even building apps for themselves. In this episode, Ryan and David sit down with Davide Crapis and Austin Griffith to map the emerging agent stack: ERC-8004 as a decentralized identity + reputation layer, x402 as payment rails for agent-to-agent commerce, and the real-world “Clawdbot” experiments that show what happens when an agent gets a wallet, a codebase, and a mandate. Along the way: prompt-injection risks, why agents read calldata like it’s their native language, and why it may be the best time in history to be a solo builder—even as it gets harder to be a junior dev.

---

📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24
https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium

---
🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET
https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast

🃏SHOWDOWN | NEXT-GEN POKER
https://bankless.cc/showdown

🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT
https://bankless.cc/bitget

👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES
https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium

🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS
https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro

💰ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES
https://bankless.cc/ico-watch

---
TIMESTAMPS

0:00 “AI is the new UI,” and you’ll be talking to your wallet
4:09 Is there an arms race for AI activity across chains?
7:32 The Clawdbot/OpenClaw moment: agents get OS-level power
13:18 Why crypto is native to agents
19:41 Austin’s setup: Claude bot, heartbeat loops, and real autonomy
22:28 The token incident: how a bot “got a treasury”
28:46 Prompt injection meets wallets
38:20 ERC-8004 explained: identity, reputation, validation
40:35 x402 + 8004: discovery + payment rails for agent commerce
48:38 8004 “scans” and early adoption reality
1:05:32 What agents could build when they can hire other agents
1:12:38 Tooling for the new builder era: Speedrun → Wingman
1:25:23 “Worst time to be a junior dev…”
1:28:15 Predictions: clean English becomes the sign of AI

---
RESOURCES

Austin Griffith
https://x.com/austingriffith

Davide Crapis
https://x.com/DavideCrapis

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Michael Nadeau went risk-off in October and has been targeting Bitcoin's fair value near $65K. In this episode, he joins Ryan to unpack what changed after BTC broke below $80K, why he does not think this is the macro low yet, and what a real bottom typically looks like (capitulation, then apathy).

They also dig into the new wild card: incoming Fed chair Kevin Warsh, and why “rates down” could still mean tighter liquidity if the balance sheet shrinks. Mike walks through the key cycle signals he is watching (MVRV/realized price, 200-week moving average, long-term holder behavior, miners), how Bitcoin tends to lead the Nasdaq Composite, and the price zones on his watch list for ETH and SOL as he prepares to scale back into risk.

Michael Nadeau & The DeFi Report:

https://x.com/JustDeauIt

https://thedefireport.io/

---

📣KRAKEN | DEFI EARN

https://bankless.cc/Kraken

---

BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET

https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast

⚡EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING

https://bankless.cc/euphoria

🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT

https://bankless.cc/bitget

👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES

https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium

🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS

https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro

💰ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES

https://bankless.cc/ico-watch

---

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

3:03 New Fed Chair Announcement

8:54 Macro Analysis of Kevin Warsh

14:56 Labor Market Concerns

23:09 Wealth Destruction Phase

26:31 Long-Term Market Projections

31:21 Bitcoin vs. Stocks

39:51 Market Sentiment & Cycles

42:10 Tactical Investment Strategies

55:29 Long-Term Optimism for Crypto

58:06 Closing & Disclaimers

---

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Capitalism may be heading toward an “event horizon,” where a handful of firms become so entrenched they’re effectively the last companies standing.

We break down the four “Infinity Gauntlet” pillars: intelligence, energy, capital, and labor. And why collapsing costs in AI and robotics could make abundance, and monopolies, the default outcome.

From Google’s data + compute flywheel to the Tesla/SpaceX/xAI convergence and even space-based energy/data centers, we map the new battlefield and what it means for building a future-proof portfolio (not investment advice).

Josh Kale
https://x.com/JoshKale 

------

💫 LIMITLESS | SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW

https://pod.link/1813210890

https://www.youtube.com/@Limitless-FT 

https://x.com/LimitlessFT 

------

🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET

https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast

⚡ EUPHORIA | REAL-TIME ONE-TAP TRADING

https://bankless.cc/euphoria

🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT

https://bankless.cc/bitget

👑BANKLESS PREMIUM | AD-FREE & BONUS EPISODES

https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium

🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS

https://bankless.cc/TDR-pro

💰ICO WATCH | UPCOMING PUBLIC TOKEN SALES

https://bankless.cc/ico-watch 

------

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 The Infinity Gauntlet of Capitalism

6:50 Intelligence

18:15 Capital

25:04 Energy

30:05 Labor

42:45 Google

47:20 Nvidia

49:16 Tesla

56:55 SpaceX

1:13:54 Amazon

1:15:12 Microsoft

1:16:35 Meta

1:19:34 Apple

1:22:22 Who Wins?

1:25:45 Elon Musk

1:26:46 Endgame Portfolio

1:29:17 Closing & Disclaimers

------

Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠