• Nikita nukes info-fi
• Claude AI meta kicks up a gear
• Sport.fun debuts its $FUN token 
• What's up with Pump.fun?
• Clarity act latest updates

TR joins this week for a general chat about the state of things online and where the world’s going.

The Delphi research man has a view that you may as well edge towards optimism when it comes to the rapid developments of tech in our society, because why have it any other way?

We talk about the algorithm changes, if crypto still has a future and where we’ll end up with tokens. 

• Meta lays off 1500 staff from metaverse division
• Coinbase withdraws support from crypto market structure bill 
• SEC brings an end to ZCash investigation
• Are Hyperliquid competitors running out of catalysts?

• US inflation data updates 
• Trump's roadmap for the Fed 
• CoinGecko's sale plans
• 21Shares' latest Gold, Bitcoin ETP launch

• Former New York Mayor, Eric Adams, allegedly orchestrates $3.5 million rug pull
• Progress made on Clarity Act, committee set to meet on Thursday
• Saylor buys $1.25 billion worth BTC
• Pump.fun moves ICO raise funds, where did they go?
• Looking for market neutral yield? Check out our latest article on Neutrl

• Trump threatens Powell and Fed independence 
• X to roll out "smart cashtags"
• Tether freezes funds as privacy meta moons
• Pump.fun to make changes to creator fees  

• What's up with Zcash?
• Vitalik's cypherpunk arc
• All updates w.r.t. Optimism and buybacks

• Wyoming launches its own stablecoin  
• Polymarket goes exclusive with Dow Jones and WSJ
• Discord files for IPO
• Solana Seeker seals TGE date

Auld Lang Syne, a song by Rod Stewart.

Happy New Year, everyone. It's nice to be back. We thought it'd be tumbleweed for the first week of January but that's not been the case.

Kain and Infinex have found themselves in hot water again but is it just nonsense? Prediction markets and insider trading is seemingly big on the menu in every industry across the world, but do they even care?

And memes have come out of the gates strong in 2026, who knew. So we'll offer up some thoughts on that one as well. Thanks for being here!

• MSCI confirms Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs) will remain in its global index. Is this bullish for MSTR? 
• Crypto.com partners with Stripe allowing merchants to receive crypto payments
• Lighter begins begins buybacks from protocol fees. We dive into the numbers

• Did the US become the second largest BTC holder?  
• Ledger falls victim to yet another major security breach
• Polymarket and Parcl bring real estate prediction markets to the public

• DEX wars - Hyperliquid vs. Lighter
• Aave's alignment proposal  
• Upcoming MetaDAO ICOs to keep tabs on
• Jupiter, Helium buyback updates   

• Macro updates from US & Japan
• Pump.fun dev's 6-year sentence
• Final voting begins for Uniswap's UNIfication proposal  
• Jump Trading gets sued by Terra administrators 

• Trump's announces his first official stimmy - 'Warrior Dividend'
• Coinbase unveils Super App
• Robinhood lists $PIPPIN, despite insiders controlling 80% of the supply  
• ETHGas raises $12 million to create an Ethereum gas futures market
• blocmates MetaDAO article & podcast plugged

Alex, Grant, 563 and Nev jump on for our last blocmates pod of the year to talk about the good and bad from 2025. 

We realise there’s a load we’ve missed but without doing this for three hours, we don’t have much of a choice. 

Expect us to get into our personal choices for the best bits including HIP-3, Rekt drinks sending, the privacy meta and everything coming onchain.

Things look good for 2026, zoom out of the market and let it ride.

• Aave-SEC case dropped, Stani releases 2026 roadmap
• Hyperliquid ETF to launch soon
• Visa to settle USDC payments on Solana
• Japanese Yen stablecoin coming from Startale/SBI to launch in Q2 2026
• Securitize to bring equities on chain with full ownership rights

• JP Morgan tokenizes MMF on Ethereum
• Circle acquires Interop Labs team
• Solana is under a historic DDOS attack, yet network is stable
• Aster launches 'Shield Mode' with 1001x leverage available

• Macro updates: Japan set to raise rates, carry traders out in force
• Tether is eying a raise at a $500 billion valuation 
• Firedancer goes live on the Solana mainnet
• Hyperliquid set to introduce Portfolio Margin
• The Tether x Juventus takeover rejection saga

• Tokenization of stocks, treasuries, bonds is accelerating in the US
• Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison
• Trump hints at no tax on gambling wins
• Solo Bitcoin miner hits the jackpot

• FOMC recap: Have we stepped into the QE phase?
• Stripe makes moves in the stablecoin infra space
• Fogo drops pre-sale announcement 
• The Lighter vs. Hyperliquid beef

Last week felt like maybe some of the worst sentiment we've seen across the industry in a long time and we even felt it ourselves. 

This week we're discussing the chatter online from some chap who says he's wasted his prime years on crypto and is now pivoting to be a philanthropist or something, dunno. 

Anyway, do we agree? Or is it just another crash out when the market takes a turn? Plus Jeff defends ADL on Hyperliquid in a new public spat and Cobie says CT is garbage these days. Talking about it all. 

Find our Yeet sign up links on YouTube or over on Twitter @blocmates. Enjoy. 

• FOMC Day: What to expect?  
• Banks get the green act as crypto intermediaries
• Hyperliquid's Jeff snaps back at Tarun of Gauntlet over ADL FUD
• Is Trump about to save crypto gaming?

• Crypto to be tested as collateral in US derivatives market 
• Equity tokenization is accelerating
• Polymarket accused of double counting its trading volume
• Poland says no to crypto MiCA rules
• Saylor's Strategy buys more BTC 

• USDC is now linked between HyperCore and HyperEVM 
• Vitalik proposes futures-style ETH gas market
• Larry Fink says sovereign wealth funds are buying BTC
• Aster accelerates buybacks   
• TAO halving deets