The Duopolies of 2026: Ethereum & Solana, Coinbase & Robinhood, Polymarket & Kalshi | Ryan, David & Arnav Pagidyala
Crypto in 2026 is consolidating into a handful of high-stakes rivalries:
Ethereum vs. Solana for the center of gravity, Coinbase vs. Robinhood for the finance super-app, and Polymarket vs. Kalshi for prediction markets.
Arnav Pagidyala (Bankless Ventures) joins David and Ryan to map the investment implications, why incentives-driven L1s keep leaking liquidity, what makes Morpho’s institutional playbook work, and whether Hyperliquid, wallets, and onchain rails start eating the exchange business.
We also dig into the comeback of ICOs, what it would take for tokens to become truly investable, and why proof-of-personhood and privacy-preserving KYC may become unavoidable infrastructure.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
1:12 Ethereum & Solana
7:33 Why Solana is Winning
9:27 L1 Valuations
13:13 Coinbase & Robinhood
17:16 Base Contentcoins
20:32 Kalshi & Polymarket
23:19 Prediction Market Tokens
24:45 Store of Value Duopoly
27:21 Tokens in 2026
29:41 Tokens & Equity Alignment
31:01 MetaDAO
32:42 ICOs
34:44 Morpho
39:17 Morpho & Aave
40:41 Perp Exchanges
44:28 Proof of Personhood
48:42 Fat Wallet Thesis
51:45 X & Crypto
53:27 AI & Vibecoding
55:28 Is Crypto Dead?
57:18 Capital Stack Moving Onchain
59:10 What About TradFi?
1:02:15 Closing & Disclaimers
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RESOURCES
Arnav Pagidyala
https://x.com/0xArnav
Bankless Ventures
https://x.com/banklessvc
Investing Trends for 2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poes3EpAR5c
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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Investing Trends for 2026: DeFi, Tokenization, Capital Formation, Speculation & AI | Ben Lakoff & Arnav from Bankless Ventures
Ben Lakoff and Arnav Pagidyala from Bankless Ventures lay out how they’re thinking about crypto investing heading into 2026.
The conversation spans four persistent pillars of every cycle: DeFi, tokenization, capital formation, and speculation and how each is evolving as crypto matures.
Topics include the next wave of on-chain lending, equity perps, DeFi neobanks, verticalized tokenization platforms, compliant ICOs, prediction and opinion markets, and where AI agents may reshape crypto-native finance.
A candid look at what’s investable now, what’s changing, and how Bankless Ventures is underwriting the next cycle.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
11:59 DeFi
36:20 Tokenization
50:25 Capital Formation
1:00:44 Speculation Markets
1:09:58 AI
1:13:26 Founders & Teams
1:15:31 Closing & Disclaimers
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RESOURCES
Ben Lakoff
https://x.com/benlakoff
Arnav
https://x.com/0xArnav
Bankless Ventures
https://x.com/banklessvc
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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
Bringing DeFi to NFTs | Metaverso Panel
On December 7, 2021, Metaverso was held in Puerto Rico as a 1-day conference filled with leaders in crypto culture. We held a panel with Sam Cassat of Aligned Capital, Ben Lakoff of Charged Particles, Andy8052 of Fractional, and Laura Jaramillo of Upshot.
In this special edition, we dive into what the conference experience really is. Spoiler: Crypto IRL is amazing. The panel explores the intersection of DeFi and NFTs—what happens when these worlds collide? There are only two types of assets—fungible and non-fungible—but we are seeing these concepts blur together in new and interesting ways.
From liquidity to communities, this conversation covers how the Metaverse is bringing DeFi to NFTs.
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------ Topics Covered:
0:00 Intro 3:15 The Conference Experience 6:44 TradArt and NFTs 10:11 Metaverso 13:14 Crypto IRL 16:20 The Panel 19:40 FreeRoss DAO 21:38 The Panelists 24:28 The Potential of NFTs 29:00 More than Fractionalizing 33:45 Liquidity 39:33 Pricing Assets 46:50 Community 54:34 Regulatory Issues 1:00:22 Use Cases
----- Resources:
Metaverso https://www.metaver.so/ FreeRossDAO https://freerossdao.com/ Sam Cassatt https://twitter.com/samcassatt?s=20 Ben Lakoff https://twitter.com/benlakoff?s=20 Andy8052 https://twitter.com/andy8052?s=20 Laura Jaramillo https://twitter.com/LauraTJD?s=20
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures