The Breakdown

David covers three Wednesday stories: Coinbase laying off 14% of staff, a16z Crypto raising $2.2 billion, and Strategy losing $12.5 billion as CEO Phong Le floats selling bitcoin.

We also unpack the AI-first layoff narrative, the potential return of the infra supercycle ($6B+ raised across crypto VCs in 2026), and why a Cambrian explosion of DATs and ETFs might absorb whatever Saylor has to offload. Enjoy!

--

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(01:17) Coinbase Layoffs

(07:15) Nexo Ad

(07:50) Coinbase Layoffs (Cont.)

(10:30) a16z Crypto Fund 5

(15:17) Nexo Ad

(16:09) a16z Crypto Fund 5 (Cont.)

(22:30) Strategy Losses

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/breakdown

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

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

David runs through three Monday morning stories: the viral Clavicular clip with Polymarket’s CMO, the CLARITY Act’s compromise on stablecoin yield, and MegaETH’s adoption numbers a week into its points campaign.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(01:06) Clavicular and Polymarket CMO

(09:20) Nexo Ad

(09:57) CLARITY Act Update

(15:03) Nexo Ad

(15:54) MegaETH Performance

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/breakdown

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

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

DeFi just raised $302 million to cover losses from the Kelp DAO hack. David calls it what it is: a bailout.

David runs through four stories from the week — MegaETH, DeFi United, Meta’s stablecoin payouts, and the Blockworks rebrand.

We unpack why MegaETH’s points campaign is the 2021 playbook in 2026, why stablecoin income doesn’t equal crypto adoption, and what happens when the house money runs out. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:14 MegaETH)

(13:34 Nexo Ad)

(14:11 DeFi United)

(21:20 Nexo Ad)

(22:12 Meta Stablecoins)

(30:14 Blockworks Valuation)

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/breakdown

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

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

North Korea has had IT workers embedded in DeFi protocols since DeFi Summer — and they’re pretty good devs.

Nick Bax, blockchain investigator and SEAL 911 incident responder, joins us to break down how crypto crime has evolved from SIM swaps to nation-state social engineering.

We unpack the Monero inflation bug, Arbitrum’s 9/12 multisig gold standard, how DPRK workers now use facilitators to rent real identities, and what it actually takes to break into onchain investigation. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:01) DeFi is Under Attack

(03:11) Contagion Onchain

(04:40) Nexo Ad

(05:16) Nick Bax Interview

(06:40) Incident Response Triage

(08:43) Preemptive Due Diligence

(10:20) From SIM Swaps To Remote Access

(13:45) Multisig Best Practices

(14:37) AI Speeds Up Attacks

(15:36) Nexo Ad

(17:14) Decentralization Tradeoffs

(19:17) Monero Bug Hard Fork

(20:05) Trusting Multisig Guardians

(21:05) Two Of Five Risks

(22:00) DeFi Decentralization Debate

(23:41) Proactive Threat Hunting

(25:25) DPRK Worker Red Flags

(27:32) Security Teams And Intel

(30:21) Thorchain And Laundering

(33:26) Whack A Mole Reality

(35:31) Becoming Onchain Investigator

(37:06) Closing Thoughts

FOLLOW GUEST

› Nick Bax — https://x.com/bax1337

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/breakdown

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

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

Someone guessed Anthropic’s Mythos URL, gained unauthorized access to the most hyped AI model in history, and used it to build websites.

David covers three stories from the week: the Mythos breach, a Tether scam in the Strait of Hormuz, and DoorDash’s stablecoin announcement.

We unpack why Project Glasswing looks like marketing by association, how scammers are demanding Bitcoin and Tether for Hormuz transit, and whether DoorDash + Tempo passes David’s three-prong crypto test. Enjoy!

__

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:08) Unauthorized Mythos Access

(08:16) Nexo Ad

(08:51) Hormuz Scam Messages

(13:12) Nexo Ad

(14:04) DoorDash Stablecoin Payments

(22:48) Korean Wolf Memecoin

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/breakdown

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

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.