Why Pro Athletes Are Betting on Bitcoin, Crypto & Prediction Markets | Tristan Thompson & Paul Grewal

Bankless

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Tech News, News, Technology

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

NBA Star Tristan Thompson and Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal break down why pro athletes are moving into Bitcoin, crypto, and onchain prediction markets. We cover stablecoin rewards after the Genius Act, Coinbase’s fight to preserve consumer yield and staking, the CFTC vs. state path for prediction markets, and Tristan’s new onchain app, basketball.fun. ------ 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24 https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAXNET | MINT, REDEEM, EARN https://bankless.cc/fraxnet 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR L2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🌳KGEN | REQUEST A DEMO https://bankless.cc/KGEN-podcast 💠BIT DIGITAL ($BTBT) | ETH TREASURY https://bankless.cc/bit-digital We’re being compensated by Bit Digital (NASDAQ BTBT) for this segment promoting their company and BTBT. The compensation is paid in cash as a one time payment. You can find additional information about Bit Digital and BTBT on their Investor page at https://bit-digital.com/investors ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 0:54 An Athlete & a Lawyer? 2:47 Athletes Love Crypto 8:19 Bitcoin & Trust 15:16 Stablecoin Yields 18:41 Crypto vs Banks 21:34 Tristan’s Crypto Interests 26:58 Crypto’s UX 35:48 Prediction Markets 43:58 Prediction Market Regulation 48:41 Anti-Crypto Democrats 51:00 Basketball.fun 56:00 Gary Gensler’s Deleted Texts 1:00:25 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Tristan Paul https://x.com/RealTristan13 Paul Grewal https://x.com/iampaulgrewal Basketball.fun https://www.basketball.fun/ ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	If I'm going to do something, I'm going to be two feet in.
0:02.2	And I've chose to do that in Web 3 in crypto because I get an excitement.
0:06.6	It gives me the same adrenaline rush that I did or that I had for like a game 7 in NBA files.
0:11.9	That's what crypto gives me, that burning sensation inside.
0:19.3	Bankless Nation, very excited for this episode. We have a lawyer Paul Graywell and NBA pro athlete Tristan Thompson on bankless today. We got law and basketball. And the thing that unites both these guests, I think, is crypto. We'll get into that. Welcome to Bankless guys. Appreciate having us. I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me. Paul, how's it going, man?
0:38.7	Going well.
0:39.2	How are you, sir?
0:52.9	I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. You're holding up. Coffee shop meetings and all this stuff, man. It's a change of pace for you. It is a bit of a change of pace, but I'm most excited about our calves. you know, they're looking good this fall.
0:53.8	They're looking really good.
0:56.1	Guys, we actually have to get into this. So, Paul, you know, they're looking good this fall. They're looking really good.
0:59.1	Guys, we actually have to get into this. So, Paul, you are the chief legal officer of Coinbase.
1:04.3	Tristan, you're an NBA athlete. This is an interesting combination for a podcast episode.
1:09.1	How do you guys know each other? Paul, are you just like a Cavs fan? Is that what happens?
1:10.8	And Tristan, you're a Crypto fan? I'm a Cavs fan for sure that, is that what happens? And Tristan, you're a crypto fan?
1:17.3	I'm a Cavs fan for sure. Been rooting for Cleveland going back now 40 plus years. My heroes were guys like Ron Harper, Brad Doherty, Sean Kemp, and now Tristan Thompson. And so when I saw Tristan,
1:24.7	yeah, it's true. It's true. Much respect to what, Tristan, you and you and that team
1:30.3	in 2016 were able to pull off for us. Much respect. But I'm, are you from Ohio? Are you from Ohio?
1:36.6	I am. We're raised in Northeast Ohio. So, so. Which far? Akron. Went to LeBron's rival
1:42.6	Heist. Okay. Okay. OkayBron's rival heist.
1:45.7	Okay. Okay.
1:50.2	So I've been following the travails of the cast for many years.
1:55.1	But obviously, when I saw Tristan, you know, take such a prominent role and start giving prominent voice on all topics, crypto, I thought, you know, if I had the chance to chat
	...

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