Bankless
ROLLUP: David Sold His ETH | EF Exodus | Hyperliquid’s Breakout | Stagflation Fears
22 May 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is the first time we've had a Bankless podcast and you are no longer holding Ether. So that's right. From Bankless to Etherless, David.
Chapter 2: What are the current bear market trends in crypto?
Why? What changed your mind? What happened here? Bankless Nation, it is the third week of, wait, May? Yes, May. May. Hey, welcome to May. Third week. We've been here for three weeks. Bitcoin and ETH continue to look weak. Maybe that's why I don't remember. But that hasn't stopped some down market coins to reach some almost all-time highs. They are pumping. We got Zcash. We got Hype.
We got Venice. I know, David, you've been following those, so we're going to take a look at these pockets of bullishness. Hype in particular, I think, they've got SpaceX pre-IPO, I think maybe OpenAI.
Chapter 3: How is Hyperliquid transforming price discovery in crypto?
They're getting a lot of, should we say, hype this week?
Nice, nice. Hyperliquid has certainly broken out further into mainstream, specifically because of how much attention there is on the pre-IPO markets that Hyperliquid has. I also, Ryan, I have some bear fuel for you. For you?
Coming
from me yeah that macro bear fuel that i don't know if the broader macro market is pricing in i'm i'm not saying i'm bearish but if things hit the fan if shit hits the fan i do want to say that i told you so uh so you want to say both things you want to give us now you said the bull case you want to give us the bear case you can always be right that's right that's right that's right that's right uh-huh
Also, we got to talk about this exodus from the EF. It seems like every week more and more ETH researchers are resigning. Is this a trend? What's going on here? What insights do we have? Also, David, for the first time in history, talking about the bear case, you have entered this podcast owning no ETH, sir. ETH-less. Oh, my God.
What happened?
Yeah. Did that mark the bottom? I'm really hoping so. I also hope so. I also hope so. We're going to discuss that, what your reasons are and my position on things and this new era of bankless that I think we've just jumped into.
Before we get into all of that, a message from our friends and sponsors over at Metamask. In Metamask, it's not just a wallet. It is a wallet, but it's not just a wallet.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of the EF talent exodus?
It is also a place to trade perps. It's also a place to trade prediction markets. And now it's also a place to buy and trade tokenized stocks through OndoGM. It's basically a wallet to do anything. That means there are now 260, even more, 260 plus equities, ETFs, commodities, all available, right, in Metamask. Also in Metamask Mobile.
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So if you are interested in taking part in what this is, you can opt into the rewards tab on Metamask Mobile, swap at least $100 of any Ondo GM asset, and then hold that threshold for 10 non-consecutive days. And then there will be a snapshot on June 18th. There is a link in the show notes to learn more. Bankless.cc slash Ondo on MetaMask.
I got to tell you, it's truly the future when you can get tokenized stocks inside of your MetaMask wallet.
Chapter 5: Why did David sell his last ETH and what does it signify?
That was always the dream. Oh, yes, it was. That was always the dream. It was always the plan.
It was always the plan. Yeah. All right, give us the bear case. Last week, we talked about inflation numbers jumping up. We said April CPI inflation rose to 3.8%.
Chapter 6: What are the macroeconomic factors contributing to stagflation fears?
We've got some more bearish action, I think, in the treasury market. Tell us what's going on here.
Yeah, the word of the week is stagflation. It's a word that we all should send shivers down our spine. So downstream of the April CPI print rising to 3.8% highest it's been since like 2023, I think, the United States 10-year note hit 4.3%. That is the highest yield, bond yield on the 10-year since February of 2025. Wait, did you say 4.3? I'm reading 4.63%. Excuse me. You are right. It is 4.63.
4.63. I misspoke. 4.63, which is the highest since February 2023. The 30-year note rose to 5.16, which is the highest since 2008. And this is not just United States bond market, Ryan. This is just all global bond market yields around the world. Our rising fiat is just inflationary. There's global inflation happening. This is because of oil prices. Oil prices are also up.
They have not broken through the Iran wartime highs, but they continue to just push higher for longer. We're currently at $104 on Brent. That's the oil coming out of the Strait of Hormuz. The highs are $110, $112 to break all-time highs. So again, we're still below that, but things have just moved higher for longer, which is going to just further the input into inflation.
Just another data point, Ryan, credit card delinquencies keep rising, which is now at the highest level since 2010. It's just one small data point amongst a pool of others. We can go to the polymarket, Ryan, and we can look at the decreasing likelihood of Fed rate cuts in 2026.
Over the last just couple weeks, we went from a chance of zero hikes in 2026 going from 36% to almost 80%, 70% is where we're at right now. And so the market is pricing in no rate cuts. Overall, things just don't look good from an inflation perspective. But then it always brings us back to what happens with the Strait of Hormuz.
Donald Trump, once again, tweeted out, we are in the final stage of talks with Iran around a deal. How many times have we heard this? I think since the first week. There's been a peace deal on the table since the first moment. Peace was always an option. Peace was always an option. For some reason, I think the market is ascribing some amount of legitimacy to this.
People are taking this one slightly seriously. There is a verbal statement from Trump that there is a letter of intent being drafted between Trump and Iran. I'll believe it when I see it. The polymarket odds on this are saying that this is not likely. There is a 55% chance that there is a peace deal by the end of July 31st, which is not anytime soon.
And if you can imagine the Strait of Hormuz stays closed until then, oil prices are probably going to break through all-time highs. And I don't know, man. I don't think the global economy can take $120, $130, $140 oil. And according to Rory Johnson, who knows way more about oil than me, he's like, I don't understand why it's not at $180. He's saying $180 now? Yeah.
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Chapter 7: How is the SEC evolving its stance on tokenized securities?
I think that the market forces here are pretty strong and consumers are expecting inflation and supply chains are being hit with it. I think we're in for an inflationary set of months, maybe years.
When Kevin Warsh says, AI is deflationary and this gives me room to cut rates. I don't know where he's getting off on that. Like, I kind of understand the logic, but as a governor of the Fed... Wait, do you understand the logic?
Chapter 8: What are the latest developments with Wintermute in DeFi?
I mean, the logic is, right, you know, the economy is humming and cost of services go down. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Productivity is up.
Healthcare costs decrease. Yes. Therapy costs decrease. Professional services decrease. Costs go down because of AI. Yeah. Which is the thought... But we don't know, dude. We don't know if that's what happens. Yeah, what we're seeing right now is 3.8% and rising. Yeah, and that would be great if that happens, but it seems aspirational.
And I don't think that a federal governor should be aspiring to manifesting in order to create Fed policy, dude. No, you don't believe in manifesting?
No, I do not believe in the Federal Reserve manifesting. We'll see. I mean, he hasn't gotten in yet, so we don't want to prejudge him, but definitely a tough place for the Fed and Treasury. I'm sure they have a way to get out of this one, but it's going to be more money printing.
And the stock market reacted to everything that we're saying Friday through last Tuesday. Oh, yeah. We didn't start the episode with all-time highs. So we didn't get an all-time high in stocks. Yeah, no all-time high in the S&P. The all-time high was last Thursday, Friday. It was red at the end of Friday, Monday, Tuesday. And it was down like 2%. But now we're back up 1%.
So we're less than 1% off of the all-time highs. And so the market is seeing everything that we're talking about. And it's like, meh, I don't care yet.
I don't care yet.
Yeah.
It's all about the AI trade. I mean, I guess that's fueling all of this. Yeah, I guess. There are some pockets of bullishness in crypto though. So blue chip assets, the Bitcoins of the world, the Ethereums of the world, not much movement to the upside down on the week. But there are a few things that are happening. Oh, we should mention strategy, MicroStrategy. Michael Saylor.
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