LinksDAO

Memecoins were supposed to be a dead end, but Mike Dudas believes their deeper idea is only beginning to spread. The 6MV investor joins David to unpack Bonk’s role in reviving Solana, Ansem’s latest experiment, Robinhood’s push into the trenches, and how games, collectibles, prediction markets, and compute could power consumer crypto’s next chapter. Mike also answers the $1 million ETH versus SOL question, lays out Ethereum’s best strategic response, and explains why crypto’s slower progress may be setting up a more durable cycle. Subscribe for more conversations from the frontier of crypto. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK https://bankless.cc/near-pod 🔑BITKEY | GET 10% OFF USE CODE: BANKLESS | #bitkeypartner https://bankless.cc/bitkey ✈️COINBASE ONE CARD | EARN 5% BACK IN BITCOIN https://bankless.cc/coinbase-one-card 📊BITGET | TOKENIZED STOCKS 2.0 https://bankless.cc/bitget-stocks 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Bonk at Solana’s Bottom 7:07 What Gives Memecoins Value? 13:45 The Ansem Experiment 20:53 Are Memecoins Built to Die? 26:19 Culture Goes Onchain 29:45 Robinhood, Base, and the Trenches 32:59 Better Assets, Better Cycles 36:20 What 6MV Is Betting On 38:21 The Consumer Crypto Comeback 43:37 Compute Becomes a Market 47:57 Crypto’s AI Diaspora 50:53 SOL Versus ETH 57:02 Cycles, Equity, and Tokens 1:01:34 Why Crypto Takes Longer --- RESOURCES Mike Dudas https://x.com/mdudas --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Mike Dudas

Founding Partner

6th Man VenturesThe Block6MVLinksDAO

Mike Dudas holds zero ETH and sees Hyperliquid as crypto's Tether moment. He also has a clear framework for what makes a token worth buying. ======================================================== Thank you to our sponsor! Fidelity: Explore crypto careers and make the decision that could change your future at https://crypto.fidelitycareers.com ======================================================== Strategy sold 32 Bitcoin, worth just $2.5 million, and the market didn't miss it. For Mike Dudas, Managing Partner at 6th Man Ventures, the sale broke the "never sell" promise that sustained the company's premium. He doesn't see how the narrative gets rebuilt. Dudas applies the same unsentimental read to the rest of the L1 landscape. His firm holds zero ETH — five years of contradictory narratives have left the market unable to value it. In his view, Solana's decline is simpler: memecoin activity peaked and hasn't recovered. Hyperliquid, in his view, is closer to Tether than a competing L1: the no-KYC international market is enormous, and asset quality is the moat. His framework for tokens worth owning: programmatic buybacks and consistent communication from leadership. On AI, he argues agentic trading will far outpace agentic payments — Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe are moving too fast for new entrants to displace them. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained Guests: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mike Dudas - Managing Partner of 6th Man Ventures - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Dudas

Founding Partner

6th Man VenturesThe Block6MVLinksDAO

This week Mike Dudas joins the show to discuss why he thinks this cycle is still just getting started. We deep dive into Mike's thesis when it comes to investing in crypto, his biggest winners this cycle, Flying Tulip's new model for raising capital, stablecoins, NFTs & more. Enjoy! -- Follow Mike: https://x.com/mdudas Follow Santi: https://x.com/santiagoroel Follow Jason: https://x.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod -- Join the Empire Telegram: https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts -- Crypto’s premiere institutional conference returns to London in October 2025. Use code EMPIRE200 for £200 off at checkout: https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2025-london -- Crypto-native institutions and developers demand institutional-grade infrastructure with regulatory clarity and full asset control. Blockdaemon's Earn Stack is a non-custodial platform combining high-performance staking rewards and seamless DeFi integration with no intermediate smart contract or vaults. Programmatically access leading Ethereum & Solana staking rewards, plus DeFi opportunities across lending protocols, DEXs, and AMMs. Book a Demo! -- peaq, the Machine Economy Computer, proudly sponsors the Empire podcast. peaq is home to 60+ apps across 20+ industries and millions of devices, machines, and onchain robots. It powers the world’s first tokenized robo-farm, launching soon in Hong Kong, and has launched the Machine Economy Free Zone in Dubai as a Web3 x Robotics x AI innovation hub. For more about peaq, check out www.peaq.xyz -- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (03:39) 6MV's Investment Thesis (07:15) Pump Fun (15:18) Finding Big Winners This Cycle (23:27) Ads (Blockdaemon, Peaq) (24:36) Why We Haven’t Topped (29:03) How Will Crypto Returns Look Over The Next 5 Years? (36:02) Prediction Markets (39:23) What Did Solana Get Wrong? (45:50) Ads (Blockdaemon, Peaq) (46:58) Are Crypto TGEs Broken? (50:30) Flying Tulip Raises $200m: A New Vehicle For Fundraising? (57:46) Does Every Project Need A Token? (01:00:05) Why Mike Is Still Bullish NFTs (01:02:47) Stablecoins (01:06:23) Content Of The Week -- Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Mike Dudas

Founding Partner

6th Man VenturesThe Block6MVLinksDAO

Mike Dudas is the Managing Partner of 6MV and former CEO of The Block. The Scoop's host, Frank Chaparro, was joined live by Mike Dudas for Frank's final episode of the program. Frank and Mike discuss The Block's history, the evolution of the crypto space over the years, and how payments and stablecoins have emerged as one of crypto's killer use cases. OUTLINE 00:00 - Introduction 02:11 – Early Days of The Block 03:24 – The Tether Revelation 05:24 – Stablecoin Success 07:44 – Adoption Curve in Payments 11:33 – Global Stablecoin Impact 14:47 – Investment Opportunities 19:48 – Crypto vs. Fintech 25:27 – Meme Coins Debate 31:52 – Bonk and Pump Strategies 35:27 – Breaking Into the Mainstream 40:54 – Conviction in Solana 44:18 – Crypto Culture and Sentiment 47:51 – Conclusion GUEST LINKS Mike Dudas on X: https://x.com/mdudashttps://x.com/mdudas ⁠ Are you hiring in crypto? Use Campus to quickly find your best candidates with our challenging Crypto Assessment Test. Faster hiring, stronger teams. Sign up for a trial today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠theblock.co/campus⁠⁠⁠⁠

Mike Dudas

Founding Partner

6th Man VenturesThe Block6MVLinksDAO

In today's episode Mike Dudas and Carl Vogel of 6th Man Ventures join Jason to unpack their fund's strategy heading into 2025. They dive deep into their investment thesis across various sectors including DePin, AI, and consumer applications. The discussion explores the evolving landscape of token economies, the future of crypto venture capital, and their controversial takes on industry giants like Coinbase. They close out by highlighting the growing intersection of social media with financial applications. Thanks for tuning in! - - Start your day with crypto news, analysis and data from Katherine Ross and David Canellis. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire?utm_source=podcasts Follow Mike: https://x.com/mdudas Follow Carl: https://x.com/carlkvogel Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Explore the SKALE Ecosystem at skale.space/ecosystem and stay up to date with the gas-free blockchain on X at @skalenetwork - - Magic Eden is getting into token trading and their vision is to become onchain Binance and then much more as the entire world ends up moving on chain - - Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 01:37  Are VCs Founders 06:37 Evolution of Fund Raising 12:07 Origins of 6th Man Ventures 18:24 Finding Top Founders & Companies 23:18 2025 Investing Landscape 38:03 Skale Ad 38:42 Magic Eden Ad 39:26 DePin Opportunity 50:44 Crypto & AI Venture 54:22 Explosion of Tokens 58:25 L1s vs L2s 01:02:55 Coinbase Hot Takes - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Mike Dudas

Founding Partner

6th Man VenturesThe Block6MVLinksDAO

Carl Vogel

Partner

6th Man Ventures

Crypto networks are meant to be decentralized, community owned systems. But they’re turned out to be dominated by whales and to have more mercenaries who are just interested in getting free tokens to dump them, rather than having long-term believers who want to build the ecosystem. How can tokens be launched in a way that gets token holders aligned with long-term success?  Today’s guests, Mike Dudas, founding partner of 6th Man Ventures, and Matt O’Connor, co-founder of Legion, believe there’s room for improvement. In this episode, they share how Legion aims to reshape the process, focusing on fair distribution, incentivizing organic user growth, and building loyal communities. They explore Legion’s approach to token sales, its compatibility with regulatory frameworks, and why it might be the key to bringing new people into crypto. Show highlights: How Legion was born and what its main goal is The problems with how token launches currently work  Why projects don’t want to return to the ICO model Whether the criteria to earn a better reputation on Legion is gameable  How Legion actually works and what the role of KYC is What type of regulatory framework Legion is leveraging How MiCA’s rules for token offerings allowed for this type of project to emerge Whether the U.S. should follow Europe in establishing a crypto framework like MiCA What the business model of Legion is What the difference is between Legion and other similar platforms such as Cobie’s Echo Whether token sales is a better distribution mechanism than airdrops Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Polkadot Mantle Robinhood & Arbitrum Guests: Mike Dudas, Founding partner of 6th Man Ventures Matt O’Connor, Co-Founder of Legion Matt’s open source publication: Tokenomics for Builders Links Unchained: Legion Launches New Tool to Identify Best Contributors in Crypto Fundraises Legion Whitepaper Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:49 How Legion was born and its main goal 05:33 What’s wrong with current token launches? 11:13 Why projects avoid the ICO model 13:37 Can Legion’s reputation system be gamed? 26:18 How Legion works and the role of KYC 35:23 The regulatory framework behind Legion 39:06 How MiCA enabled this type of project 44:09 Should the U.S. adopt a framework like MiCA? 46:32 What is Legion’s business model? 50:28 How Legion differs from Cobie’s Echo 53:18 Are token sales better than airdrops for distribution? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Dudas

Founding Partner

6th Man VenturesThe Block6MVLinksDAO

Matt O'Connor

Co-Founder

Legion

Mike Dudas has over a decade of experience investing in the crypto industry and is the managing partner at the VC firm 6th Man Ventures. In this episode, Dudas examines the state of the crypto venture market, which he claims is currently stuck in "the slowest pace of dealmaking" he has ever seen. According to Dudas, two of the main contributors to slowing crypto VC activity are the dwindling number of real users for blockchain based products, plus founder expectations that are still anchored to unrealistic bull market valuations from days past. However, despite slowing user growth and lackluster price action, Dudas points to the uptick in developer activity as a beacon of hope that promises better experiences and products to the next wave of new crypto users.

Mike Dudas

Founding Partner

6th Man VenturesThe Block6MVLinksDAO

(01:14) Introducing Zach Weinberg and Mike Dudas (06:06) Mike’s background (19:02) Exciting about crypto (24:18) Zach vs crypto (32:04) Inflation hedge (38:25) Does Zach own Crypto (41:00) Banking in foreign countries (53:59) Stablecoin vs wire transfer (59:00) KYC (1:03:57) Crypto insurance (1:09:24) Eric Glyman: Welcome (1:11:32) Eric Glyman: Background (1:16:57) Eric Glyman: Mandarin Debate video (1:20:28) Eric Glyman: Starting Paribus (1:24:51) Eric Glyman: Selling to Capital One (1:28:57) Eric Glyman: Fintech’s success (1:33:49) Eric Glyman: What is Ramp? (1:43:10) Eric Glyman: Learnings as a 2-time founder (1:48:13) Eric Glyman: Being purposeful (1:52:55) Eric Glyman: Delegating as a CEO (1:58:53) Eric Glyman: Building the inevitability of success (2:02:43) Eric Glyman: Thinking through your investor base (2:08:29) Eric Glyman: How do you determine your valuation?  (2:13:15) Eric Glyman: Advice for executives (2:18:03) Eric Glyman: Craziest investor stories (2:20:40) Eric Glyman: The origin of Cartoon Avatars (2:21:54) Eric Glyman: Relationship between companies and media (2:28:58) Outro   Links: Eric Glyman debate video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxB5bb8xEDg   Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky  Produced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad Assir  Executive Producer: Josh Machiz  Music: Griff Lawson    🎙 Listen to the show  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cartoon-avatars/id1606770839  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=00fe3494b43a4e4c  Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg    Follow on Socials  📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/cartoonavatars  🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars  🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars    About the Show  A Saturday morning podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett (Partner and Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures) covering the tech news with his friends and other people with industry expertise. Executive Producer: Rashad Assir Producer: Leah Clapper Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member. Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.

Mike Dudas

Founding Partner

6th Man VenturesThe Block6MVLinksDAO

Eric Glyman

Co-founder and CEO

RampParibus

LinksDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization aspiring to reimagine the idea of the golf country club through global membership, illustrates the complexity that can underpin the red-hot acronym.  While holding a LinksDAO NFT gives users membership rights, there has been some confusion amongst holders as to the extent of what those rights entail. Mike Dudas, co-founder of LinksDAO and 6th Man Ventures, recently discussed the current landscape in an interview on The Scoop. As Dudas explained during the interview: “Today we're in this in-between world where many things that call themselves DAOs are really corporations but have a participatory governance mechanism. So it looks different than a corporation, but it's not truly decentralized and autonomous in the spirit of what I believe these organizations can become over the coming decade.” In the case of LinksDAO, a corporation named LinksDAO Inc. is responsible for fundraising and business development. While owners of LinksDAO NFTs are given membership rights to LinksDAO, they do not receive ownership rights to LinksDAO Inc. “The community is more of an advisory board, so we wouldn't be definitionally a DAO. We would be like a group of members who act as an advisory board to a C-corp.” This division is a necessary reality because, as Dudas puts it, “in America in 2022 you can't sell an NFT to the public using Ethereum self-custody wallets without KYC that gives somebody ownership of an asset.” Still, regardless of the structure of a DAO, projects are cropping up to serve them with tools, Dudas noted.  “Right now there are a number of what are called ‘point solutions.’ Early on in the evolution of any ecosystem, what happens is you have solutions that service the most important and critical functions for a DAO.” Funds like Bain Capital Crypto are eyeing this opportunity, with DAO service providers being one of the focus points of their recently announced $560 million fund. This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Fireblocks, Coinbase Prime & Chainalysis Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 725 financial institutions, has secured the transfer of over $1.5 trillion in digital assets, and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com. About Coinbase Prime Coinbase Prime is an integrated solution that provides institutional investors with an advanced trading platform, secure custody, and prime services to manage all their crypto assets in one place. Coinbase Prime fully integrates crypto trading and custody on a single platform, and gives clients the best all-in pricing in their network using their proprietary Smart Order Router and algorithmic execution. For more information, visit www.coinbase.com/prime. About Chainalysis Chainalysis is the blockchain data platform. We provide data, software, services, and research to government agencies, exchanges, financial institutions, and insurance and cybersecurity companies in over 60 countries. Our data powers investigation, compliance, and market intelligence software that has been used to solve some of the world’s most high-profile criminal cases and grow consumer access to cryptocurrency safely. Backed by Accel, Addition, Benchmark, Coatue, Paradigm, Ribbit, and other leading firms in venture capital, Chainalysis builds trust in blockchains to promote more financial freedom with less risk. For more information, visit www.chainalysis.com.

Mike Dudas

Founding Partner

6th Man VenturesThe Block6MVLinksDAO