ROLLUP: Markets at ATHs | Saylor’s STRC Bid | Trump DeFi Scandal | SEC Clears DeFi

Bankless

Tech News, Technology, News

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Markets are ripping back to all-time highs, but crypto still isn’t following suit. Ryan and David break down the V-shaped recovery driven by Iran de-escalation, why Bitcoin is still stuck in range, and the growing bull vs bear divide across macro and onchain data. They also unpack Saylor’s STRC “money printer,” the World Liberty DeFi controversy, and the SEC’s surprise ruling that just gave DeFi a major win. Plus: the Bitcoin community’s plan to freeze Satoshi’s coins and what it means for the future of the network. --- 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium --- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKET https://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🪐GALAXYONE | SOLANA STAKING https://bankless.cc/GalaxyOne 🦊 METAMASK | DOWNLOAD NOW https://go.metamask.io/BL-Pod-Download 🌐BRIX | EMERGING MARKET YIELD https://bankless.cc/brix 🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS https://thedefireport.io/bankless --- TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES 0:00 Intro 2:04 Markets at ATHs / Iran De-Escalation https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2044507788961894462 https://x.com/TheStalwart/status/2044045804596346931 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2041728989119529307 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2043285255931441306 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2043323635671179641 https://x.com/AndrewBeckUSA/status/2043136650478301245 https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2044426813544255859 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2044055049882476961 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2044435422944649651 https://polymarket.com/event/us-x-iran-permanent-peace-deal-by/?via=bankless? https://x.com/RaoulGMI/status/2043832901121331527 https://x.com/Matt_Hougan/status/2044095946334843168 https://x.com/JustDeauIt/status/2044127128296313079 https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2044114246187851783 https://x.com/JoshKale/status/2044425507203166292 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2044423401763127512 https://x.com/LizAnnSonders/status/2043664934559420916 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UMCSENT https://x.com/perry8888_/status/2044168141148655773 https://x.com/WatcherGuru/status/2044375033909264873 https://polymarket.com/event/how-many-fed-rate-cuts-in-2026/?via=bankless? 30:41 Saylor STRC / Bitcoin Bid & ETH Treasury Race (Tom Lee / Bitmine) https://x.com/LynAldenContact/status/2043736183578972443 https://x.com/AdamBLiv/status/2043809798035255790 https://x.com/STRC_live/status/2044029951410635132 https://x.com/pythianism/status/2044425651890147507 https://x.com/nic_carter/status/2044461949895819559 https://x.com/AltcoinDaily/status/2044492873803116649 https://x.com/fundstrat/status/2043683094914335191 https://www.strategicethreserve.xyz/ https://cointelegraph.com/news/ether-machine-spac-ethm-cancelled-dynamix-merger https://x.com/CryptosR_Us/status/2044507049648697717 46:24 World Liberty Financial (FTX-style risk) https://x.com/DefiIgnas/status/2042520040562639186 55:22 SEC DeFi Ruling (Bull Case) https://x.com/SECGov/status/2043739582273855635 https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2043754533545746884 https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2043709926556492190 58:39 Bitcoin Quantum Plan (BIP-361) https://x.com/BitcoinArchive/status/2044319025711255985 https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0361.mediawiki https://www.bip361.org/ https://x.com/lopp/status/2044406134178795748 1:02:53 Closing & Disclaimers --- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bankless Nation, we got a green week this week. It is the third week of April.
0:08.2	It's a very green week. It's a very green week. Markets are up big. We got, just days ago, it seemed.
0:14.7	We were down 10% on the S&P. And now...
0:17.2	And going downer. Yeah. It was trending down.
0:20.5	And how are we now today at all-time high?
0:23.4	All-time highs.
0:24.5	All in a week's period. Who knew? I mean, I think that's making the question for crypto. Where are we going next? Up or down. We've got... We're going to name some names on today's episode. We got some bowls that we're going to name and some bears that we're going to name.
0:37.2	We're going to call people out.
0:38.8	I actually don't know which side I'm on right now, David.
0:41.2	So that's a strange feeling for me. Meanwhile, Sailor's Stretch is new STRC, not that new, but new into the zeitgeist is printing billions of dollars. The market clearly likes it. It's putting a very healthy bid on Bitcoin. Is this the best instrument sealer has ever created? Will it be the catalyst to send Bitcoin to all-time highs? Or, alternatively, will it be our demise? Bear or bull? Bear or bull? It's kind of like AI, you know? It could be like the next iPhone or could kill us all. We don't know. Could be both. That's the fun. Also, World Liberty Finance had some drama in the week. This is, remember Trump's D-5 project? It was caught doing some on-chain shenanigans. We're going to explore that. And ask the question, is this the new cycle FTX? Did World Liberty just pull a Sam Begman-Fried?
1:30.3	We got Justin's son weighing in on that. Notable morality commentator, Justin's son.
1:37.0	But we do have some fundamental serious good news, you know, putting on the serious hat at the moment.
1:42.2	The SEC just gave Defi a broker exemption.
1:45.2	Very material for a lot of the company's protocols apps that we know and love. We'll talk about
1:50.1	the significance of that and what we can do now. And also, the Bitcoin community, taking
1:55.5	quantum seriously, putting forward a quantum plan to free Satoshi's Bitcoins, making progress on the big quantum threat
2:02.5	to Bitcoin.
2:03.2	All of this and more.
2:04.5	We're going to talk about it one by one by one.
2:05.8	But first, we've got to start with the markets, which are greener than green.
2:10.3	Like we said, just 10 days ago, we were down.
2:13.0	The S&P was down a whopping 9.67% from its highs. The highs that it painted in January 28th of this year
	...

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