Podcast profile
By Blockworks
Empire features interviews with top crypto founders to get the real stories that aren’t shared elsewhere. Empire is your look behind the curtain of the crypto industry. We release two episodes per week: guest interviews on Monday and a weekly roundup on Friday.
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1 hr 14 min
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What separates lasting winners from everyone chasing the next trend? This week, we dig into why specialization may be the biggest edge in venture investing as crypto, AI, and traditional finance increasingly converge. We discuss venture mandates, stablecoin competition, Circle's earnings, Cloudflare's agent wallets, an
What happens when every market starts trading like crypto? This week, Santi and Rob examine how leverage, automation, and retail speculation are exporting crypto-style volatility across traditional finance. They also explore CLARITY’s fading odds, AI fatigue, Robinhood’s onchain expansion, and the battle between public
What happens when Robinhood turns crypto from a trading feature into the backbone of its global financial platform? This week, Robinhood's GM of Crypto, Johann Kerbrat, explains how Robinhood Chain connects DeFi, tokenized assets, and mainstream users. We explore global access, permissionless development, strategic par
Is CLARITY the breakthrough crypto needs or just the beginning? This week, Jason and Multicoin’s Greg Xethalis unpack how the bill could reshape crypto’s regulatory future. They explore CFTC oversight, token classification, DeFi protections, disclosure requirements, and the fight threatening its passage. Enjoy! TIMESTA
Crypto's window for regulatory clarity is about to close while Robinhood raises questions about who actually captures the value created onchain. This week, we unpack Clarity’s narrowing path through Congress and what failure could mean for crypto markets and institutional adoption. We also debate Ethereum’s economics,
What happens when crypto finally builds a trading experience for everyone, not just crypto natives? This week, Jason sits down with fomo co-founders Paul and Se to discuss why consumer crypto has struggled, how fomo is approaching onchain trading differently, and why they believe social finance is the next major platfo
AI and distribution moats are forcing investors to separate real business transformation from crypto’s unresolved value-capture problem. This week, Jason and Santi discuss what months of researching crypto adoption taught Inversion, why the firm's investment strategy is evolving, and what it reveals about where value i
This week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the announcement of OUSD and what it means for the future of Circle. We then deep dive into Robinhood’s recent product launches, Venice’s $65M raise, crypto’s continued discussion around tokens vs. equity, and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Jason: https://x.com/Jason
This week, Vishal Garg joins the show to discuss how crypto and AI are reshaping the mortgage market. We deep dive into Better’s business model, why the mortgage market is so inefficient today, how to leverage tokenization and AI, partnering with Coinbase and OpenAI, and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Vishal: https://x.com/vis
This week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the current state of markets as worries around Strategy drag crypto lower. We then deep dive into the competition in prediction markets, the state of crypto venture, Kraken’s pursuit of a stake in Aave, Fomo’s $75M raise, and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Jason: htt
This week, Ben Jones and Karl Floersch join the show to discuss what happened to the L2s. We take a deep dive into Optimism's new strategy for 2026, the current state of Ethereum, why companies need to launch a chain, having a token, and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Karl: https://x.com/karl_dot_tech Follow Ben: https://x.com
This week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss why the US government placed export controls on Anthropic's Fable model. We then deep dive into open vs close sourced models, will Microstratgey blow up, structuring a portfolio in 2026, Coinbase's new product announcement and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Jordi: ht
This week, Ryan Watkins join the show to discuss the current state of crypto and where he sees the most opportunity in 2026. We deep dive into running a crypto fund in 2026, do four year cycles still exist, the Hyperliquid thesis, token unlocks and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Ryan: https://x.com/RyanWatkins_ Follow Jason: h
In this special episode, Blockworks announces its acquisition of Messari and unpacks what it means for crypto’s next phase. Michael and Jason explore why Messari’s breadth of data, APIs, and research complement Blockworks’ deep on-chain analytics, investor relations, and disclosure products. They also address crypto’s
This week, CFTC Chair Michael Selig joins the show to discuss the CFTC's recent policy announcement on perps in the U.S. We deep dive into how to regulate crypto in the U.S, prediction markets, 24/7 markets, working with the SEC and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Michael: https://x.com/MichaelSelig Follow Rob: https://x.com/Ha
This week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the upcoming SpaceX IPO with early investor Ryan Zurrer. We deep dive into how to value SpaceX, why this crypto bear market feels worse than others, opportunities in DeFi today, Strategy selling Bitcoin and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Ryan: https://x.com/kukulaban
This week, Avichal Garg joins the show to discuss how he is currently allocating to crypto in 2026. We deep dive into the opportunity in crypto and AI venture, how to build a breakout app, the future path for Ethereum, why Avichal is still bullish on SOL & ETH, why tokens trade at a discount and more. Enjoy! -- Follow
This week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss why everyone in crypto feels so bearish. We then dive deep into whether stablecoins significantly improve payment rails, Robinhood’s AI agent announcement, Rob’s takeaways from a trip to D.C., MicroStrategy and RoboStrategy NAV premiums, and more. Enjoy! -- F
This week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss why Hyperliquid is having its breakout moment by capitalizing on the trillion dollar IPO wave. We then deep dive into whether we’re entering a new bull market, if Ethereum is overvalued, SpaceX’s IPO, and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanow
This week, Mike Cagney joins the show to discuss Figure and how it became the leading non-bank HELOC lender in the U.S. We deep dive into how Figure leverages blockchain rails to scale the next evolution of capital markets before Mike shares his thoughts on tokenization, being a public vs private company, how to fix to
This week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the current AI mania and how it feels similar to crypto in 2017. We then deep dive into Circle's $222M raise, expectations for the Clarity Act, Anthropic's crackdown on SPVs and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://x
This week, Stani Kulechov & Mike Silagadze join the show to discuss the aftermath of the KelpDAO exploit. We deep dive into why this hack could have potentially killed DeFi, launching the DeFi United fund, how to mitigate against future hacks, why DeFi tokens are uninvestable and more .Enjoy! -- Follow Stani: https://x
This week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the current state of markets during earnings season. As equities push to new all time highs on stronger than expected results, we take a closer look at Robinhood’s numbers, the DeFi United recovery fund, Pump.fun’s token burn announcement and more. Enjoy! --
This week, Alex Pruden & Philip Martin join the show to discuss Bitcoin's rising quantum threat. We deep dive into what is the risk from quantum, what to do with Satoshi's coins, will we see a Bitcoin fork, how does DeFi mitigate hacks, how to protect your privacy and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Alex: https://x.com/apruden0
This week, we’re back with another weekly roundup to discuss the latest DeFi exploit of KelpDAO which saw $290M in funds exploited. We deep dive into how to resolve the recent exploits in DeFi, the rivalry between Kalshi and Polymarket, will the Clarity Act pass and more. Enjoy! -- Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYano