ROLLUP: Operation Choke Point | SEC Crypto Staking Crackdown | Genesis Earn Repayment | a16z Uniswap

Uh in bad news though, Operation Chokepoint promises to take crypto bankless, but in the bearish way. Uh perhaps crypto's biggest regulatory threat ever.

Bankless Nation, it is the second Friday of February. David, what time is it?

Ryan, it's the Friday Bankless Weekly Roll Up where we cover the entire weekly news in crypto, which is always an ambitious endeavor, especially this week. An insane amount of shipping, uh, some extra large FUD, and we're gonna cover it all on this roll up here and now with, of course, coffee.

As always. Yep, in my Ember mug too, so it's uh it's nice and piping hot. David, you are back and uh your voice still hasn't fully recovered, although it's better than it was yesterday. So like how many days of recovery and and what what happened to you?

Yeah, my voice is slowly coming back after going to the Starquare sessions in Tel Aviv, Israel, and doing nine interviews, which the Bankless Nation will notice that the first four of is on their podcast feed. So you can go ahead and listen to those. If you if you just can't make it out to conferences, don't worry, because Bankless has your back. I bring out an entire podcast studio with me, including three microphones, and I inv interview everyone who's founder, builder, developer of that particular ecosystem. This conference in choice was uh the Starknet world. Uh and sometimes I put my voice on the line too to get that done. And that's why you're going to be hearing a little bit raspy of a voice on this weekly roll up this week.

Big big sacrifices to make this happen. Many Gotham's died for this information, a little Star Wars reference for you. David, I always thought you were just going to the conferences for me, man. But I guess it is about the listeners too. I seriously, I appreciate that. That's one of the great things about people don't know the partnership between David and myself. It's just like a yin-yang type thing where he does all sorts of stuff that I'm like, ah, I don't want to go to a conference. David's like, I absolutely want to go to all the conferences. And so it's a really good fit. And David's like, uh, I don't want to do accounting and bookkeeping and that sort of thing. And I'm like, oh, that's fine for me. I enjoy it in a weird way. So

Weird.

that's what makes this partnership work.

Yeah. Um anyway. I just want to talk with as many people as possible, but I also hate small talk and receiving pitches. And so in order to defend myself from getting pitched by everyone all the time, I schedule out interviews, longer form interviews. And I'm like, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm busy. I'm interviewing people.

Not the small talk.

Yeah.

I'm like that too.

Yeah.

You know what's funny is um I know you've characterized yourself as an introvert, but I think if somebody met you at a uh conference, I don't think they'd see an introvert.

Yeah. Everyone is surprised. Like I say, oh yeah, I'm kind of introverted. And everyone's like, What? No, you're not. And actually, I I have had to actually rethink that. So

Because there are true introverts that just really

there are people who are more introverted than me. But also, like coming into crypto, I have discovered that it has created uh a more extroverted, outgoing person in me. That is uh something I've noticed.

look, uh it come for the money, but stay for the personality improvement? Or

The psychological changes, which also happens to be the subject of my talk at Shelling Point in Denver. If you want to talk about the way that permissionless self-sovereign protocols change the psychological disposition of the societies that organize around them, if that talk interests you, definitely go to Shelling Point.

been waiting years to apply a psych degree to uh crypto, and then the moment has come.

Six years six years in the making.

This is great. Well, it's it it's it's super unlike bankless to shill its own content on the show. But you can you can tell we got a lot of hot content coming at you, David. And I've been looking at our podcast schedule too. I mean, we're recording three podcasts over the next like three days, three working days with some real big names. Um

Oh my god, there's the I think it's some of the hottest content lined up over the next like ten days that I think

Eric Howell, this is uh in crypto ethics, we're talking about that. Uh Eliezer.

Um

AI gigabrain. We're talking about AI. We're this and this isn't just Bankless following the AI trend. This is

yeah, this is not about AI tokens.

It's not about hey

This is real AI. I mean this guy's like a big brain. I'm uh

it's incredible that he's these choosing come on. And then Annie Jacobson. Oh my god, uh that's coming out.

for the Annie Jacobs.

And she's gonna take a moment.

I went to Shillett really quick.

Well, okay, but here here's my uh take on it. She's gonna tell us if we have to hide from our government, if the government is coming after people in crypto, right?

Not I wouldn't say that that's the most accurate way of the theme of the content. The Annie Jacobson content, Annie Jacobson is an author who does not really know much or care about crypto and doesn't need to in order to talk about what we're going to talk about. She's written books like uh The Pentagon's Brain, which is an exploration into how the Pentagon thinks and how it's organized. And this subject matter is uh there have been, there are many intelligence agencies in the United States, uh, that you know, the CIA, the Pentagon, et cetera. And there also, throughout history, has been a number of countercultural dissident movements, and there have been ways that these intelligence agencies have engaged with these countercultural dissident movements. Infiltrated. Infiltrated, yes, perhaps is the correct word. Uh and so while Annie doesn't have any specific knowledge about how the CIA might have been chosen to engage with crypto, the idea is that we we can talk about all of the different strategies that they have infiltrated other movements, and it's up to the listener to connect the dots and extrapolate this into how uh how you know the CIA might have infiltrated uh, you know, the the the crypto world.

The question is, how well do you really know your crypto podcast co host? Like how well do you really know that person? That's the question I intend to ask Annie.

Okay, well so like the the I'll I'll jump to the conclusion of that episode. There are

Know the conclusion yet?

Well, at the punchline, I'm pretty sure. Well, okay, so Annie Jacobson spoke at the A16Z Founder Summit, which is uh retreat, which is how she came onto my radar. And the the conclusion is like, yo, if you are in the social networks of crypto, the VC networks, the media networks, the likelihood that someone is a plant is like that's looking back throughout history as how this has happened throughout other uh dissident movements, is likely. And so like I look at myself, I'm like, oh, I moved to New York to be a part of the crypto socialite crew. I have them one of the most extensive media networks in all of crypto.

Chances are you know someone

The CIA really wants to be my friend.

well, maybe they probably already are then.

Yes.

If they've wanted it, then

There's someone who's my friend who I probably have already invited over to my apartment who's probably listening to this and is like, oh fuck, they're on to me.

Thanks, David. Paranoia Increases 10X. You guys appreciate that? That was like a whole eight minutes of shilling bankless content. I'm sorry. We got to get to the roll-up content today, all right? Is Biden operation choke point? This operation choke point we're going to talk about is it coming to kill crypto? We'll talk about that. What else we got, David?

DCG and Gemini hug it out. Maybe we'll get some of our money back. Uh perhaps a successful resolution. And so if you have money and Gemini earn, stay tuned to find out how much money that you may get in return. And also, Ryan, you've noticed this. I've noticed this. It is absolutely ship season. So many teams have shipped very cool things, very big updates in the last recent week. So we're going to cover it all. Fundamentals are up big. Also, A16D is a DeFi governance cartel. The manhunt for Doquan. NFTs on Bitcoin continue their exponential growth. ARK's Audacious Bitcoin price targets. This roll up is absolutely jam packed. I'm really excited for this one, so stay tuned for this all.

Uh all right, David, let's get to markets. I think we got some happy news this week yet again. It's it's only happy news. What is Bitcoin doing on the

No, it's it's not happy, Ryan. I don't know what you're talking about. It's uh we're down five point four percent in Bitcoin.

Where have I been?

Yeah, where have you been?

Yesterday happy?

Uh no, it's been it's been I mean it's not been like super sad, but it's been a down week. We started the week at twenty-three thousand eight hundred dollars.

So embarrassing, guys.

Down

David puts these numbers in before the roll up, and clearly I don't even read them. And I am uh so zen this year. I'm not even checking prices.

Yeah, well big right only being down five point four percent is apparently not down enough to be on Ryan Ryan's radar. Uh Bitcoin currently coming in at twenty two thousand five hundred dollars.

Oh.

Sad. Sorry for that. I wrecked you guys. How about ETH? Is that down too, David? Don't

Less less down, but still down. Yeah, starting the week at sixteen seventy five, uh one thousand six hundred and seventy five, down three point two percent to sixteen twenty. Um yeah, so down down on the week. Uh not overly bad, especially with like so we're gonna talk about this banking FUD, the this operation choke point.