Bankless Weekly Rollup — December 12, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of Bankless recaps the biggest news in crypto and crypto finance for the second week of December 2025. Hosts Ryan Sean Adams and David Hoffman walk through rate cuts and Federal Reserve policy, a breakthrough in Ethereum Layer 2 ZK technology, Farcaster’s pivot from social network to wallet-centric product, major regulatory reversals in the U.S., the impact of stablecoins, cross-chain drama (Base x Solana), and shifts in community sentiment around Ethereum vs. other layer ones. The tone throughout is energetic, sometimes irreverent, and highly bullish on Ethereum and the maturing DeFi landscape.

Highlights & Key Segments

1. Fed Rate Cut and Macro Overview

• Fed Cuts Rates: The last FOMC meeting of 2025 delivers a 25bps cut (now in the 3.5–3.75% range). Markets expected a slightly dovish shift, but crypto reactions were subdued.
• Discussion: Is easy money automatically bullish for crypto? Hosts debate pros and cons, with David advocating for a slow grind up in asset prices, not a dramatic pivot.
• Trump’s Stance: Trump voices clear preference for an immediate rate cut should he select the next Fed chair:

  • "Is it a litmus test that the new chair lower interest rate immediately? Yes." (19:25)

• Market Reactions: S&P up, crypto flat-to-down, with Bitcoin down 3% on the week to around $90k and ETH flat.

Timestamps:
[00:00] – [06:49]: Market moves, “Bart” chart formations, “Bitcoin After Dark” ETF
[16:34] – [22:01]: Fed policy, macro discussion

2. Crypto Sentiment — Ethereum’s Resurgence

• ETH Sentiment Flips Bullish: Noteworthy, former skeptics turn positive on Ethereum.
  • Ryan Watkins: "The more time passes, the more I believe crypto natives have completely lost the plot on eth and it's becoming impossible to replicate the product that Ethereum has built..." (10:16)
  • Mike Ippolito: "Ethereum is in the best looking place that it's been in four years to me." (11:08)
• Drivers:
  • Tom Lee now owns 3.2% of all ETH (bought $420M last week) — institutional support is massive.
  • Stronger builder momentum, roadmap clarity, and ZK/L2 progress are cited as key reasons.
• ETH as Institutional Pick: “All of Wall Street, as Tom Lee says, Wall Street has picked Ethereum to do all of its stuff, mainly tokenization being the very big narrative.” (12:23)
• ETH’s Moment? Hosts draw parallels to Ethereum finally “having its cycle” after being leapfrogged by Bitcoin and Solana in recent years.

Timestamps:
[08:21] – [16:19]: ETH sentiment, Tom Lee’s accumulation, L2 roadmap momentum

3. Farcaster’s Strategic Pivot — Decline of Crypto Social

• Pivot: Dan Romero (Farcaster founder) announces shift from social-first to wallet-first model:

  • "On chain social or decentralized social is a service to add on to a wallet... the wallet is actually the center of the ecosystem." (25:27)

• Reflections: After 5 years, Farcaster concedes decentralized social wasn't “5-10x” better than Twitter. Strong network effects keep everyone on X, even as user experience on X declines.
• Web3 Applications as Tombstones: Broad failure of “on-chain social” and “on-chain gaming” as leading narratives — maybe they’ll “sneak in quietly” in 10–15 years, but they’re not core to crypto’s next phase.
• Decentralization Not a Feature: Hosts argue: decentralization itself isn’t a killer feature—users want property rights/security, not just “blockchain versions” of web apps.

  • “Decentralization is just anti-corruption technology. And it’s not a feature.” (33:27)

• Growing Up: Crypto is maturing, refocusing on finance, sound money, and property.

Timestamps:
[25:27] – [36:12]: Farcaster pivot, why crypto social didn’t take off, broader Web3 introspection

4. ZK Breakthrough: ZKsync Atlas & The Era of “Unified Liquidity”

• Atlas Upgrade: ZKsync launches its “Atlas” upgrade, enabling L2s to tap into unified Layer 1 Ethereum liquidity—without needing separate liquidity pools per L2.

  • “L2s tapping into L1 liquidity. No need to replicate the same DEFI ecosystems on L2s and fractionalized world liquidity well baked.” — Stani (Aave), (40:25)

• Seamless UX Demo: Example—taking out a loan from L1 Aave via ZKsync L2, no bridging or waiting, feels unified and instant. A major step in solving Ethereum’s fragmentation problem.
• Institutional Chains: UAE’s ADI Chain launches on ZKsync, complete with a central bank-regulated stablecoin, using Ethereum’s DeFi rails for real-world finance.
• Race to ZK: Celo announces being the first Ethereum L2 to use OP ZK fault proofs, following this trend.

Timestamps:
[37:36] – [44:27]: ZKsync Atlas upgrade, demos, market impact

5. Regulatory Landscape: Full 180 in the U.S.

• SEC, CFTC, OCC — All Pivot Pro-Crypto:
  • SEC closes investigations (Ondo, dozens more), with new chair Paul Atkins stating:

    “All U.S. markets will be on chain within two years.” (02:09 / 58:00)

  • CFTC trial launches allowing BTC, ETH, and USDC as collateral, formalizing their monetary status.
  • Major U.S. banks (Citi, JPM, others) now issuing credit against bitcoin (59:51).
  • OCC, formerly a “choke point” operator, now admonishes banks for debanking crypto users.

  • "That's hilarious to me because the OCC was one of the groups telling them to go debank crypto customers." (61:19)

  • Direct connection to Trump-era executive orders pressuring regulatory review and reversal.
• Hosts’ Tone: Compare “regulatory winter” thawing to “Sauron’s tower collapsing” and classic villains being cast out.
• Clarity Act: Still stalled—50/50 chance of passing; would unlock huge growth for Ethereum and tokenization.

Timestamps:
[56:17] – [65:02]: Regulatory reversals, clarity act politics, reflections on progress

6. Market Moves & Ecosystem Updates

• Base/Solana Bridge Drama:
  • Base launches bridge to Solana, prompting Solana ecosystem pushback; ultimately friendly but exposes tribal frictions and “vampire attack” anxieties.

  • “You didn’t talk to Solana Foundation!”—Solana community; “We just built a bridge so Solana assets can access Base!”—Jesse Pollak (Coinbase/Base) (48:34)

• Blob Upgrades: Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade increases blob parameter for more L2 transaction throughput, with another big upgrade due in January—keeping L2s scalable and fees down.
  • “Ethereum is upgrading its supply of Blob space faster than the market can consume it...” (54:02)
• Prediction Markets: Gemini receives CFTC license to launch fully regulated prediction markets, joining Kalshi in the U.S.
• Other Memes/Quips:
  • Satirical discussion of the NYT’s “hit piece” on stablecoins:

    “It is the federal government. The only reason [FDIC] insurance exists is because the banks are fractional reserves, whereas your stablecoin is not.” (66:05)

  • "Are we in Bart season?" re: price charts (05:49)
  • “Decentralization gets in the way for most things.” (33:31)

Timestamps:
[46:47] – [53:26]: Base x Solana discussion
[52:42] – [55:50]: Ethereum's blob parameter upgrades
[65:02] – [67:51]: NYT stablecoin coverage, prediction markets

Notable Quotes

• On Fed rates:

  “I want [the President] to be cool, calm, collected, and highly rational. Don’t shock the system. We got a good thing going.” — David, (21:49)

• On Ethereum sentiment:

  “Ethereum is in the best looking place that it's been in four years to me.” — Mike Ippolito (11:08)

• On ZKsync Atlas:

  “L2s tapping into L1 liquidity—no need to replicate the same DEFI ecosystems on L2s and fractionalized world liquidity well baked.” — Stani (Aave), (40:25)

• On Farcaster and social:

  “The wallet is actually the center of the ecosystem and all of Farcaster’s engagement has really come from people doing trading or token stuff.” — David, (25:27)

• On regulatory shift:

  “All U.S. markets will be on chain within two years.” — Paul Atkins, SEC Chair, (02:09 / 58:00)
  “That's hilarious to me because the OCC was one of the groups telling them to go debank crypto customers.” — Ryan, (61:19)

• On crypto maturity:

  “Crypto will still do the things I dreamed it would when I first entered—just much slower and more quietly than I originally thought.” — Ryan, (36:12)

Episode Structure & Timestamps

| Topic | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------|---------------| | Market/Crypto Macro, Price Moves | [00:00]–[06:49]| | ETH Sentiment Shift, Tom Lee’s Accumulation | [08:21]–[16:19]| | Fed Policy, Rate Cuts | [16:34]–[22:01]| | Farcaster Pivot, Web3 Social Reflections | [25:27]–[36:12]| | ZKsync Atlas & ZK Composability | [37:36]–[44:27]| | Regulatory Reversals, SEC/CFTC/OCC | [56:17]–[65:02]| | NYT Stablecoin Critique | [65:02]–[66:50]| | Base/Solana Bridge Drama | [46:47]–[53:26]| | Ethereum Blob Upgrades | [52:42]–[55:50]| | Prediction Markets & Closing Memes | [65:02]–End |

Final Takeaways

• Ethereum is regaining both institutional and builder bullishness—layer 2 scaling and ZK innovation may unlock the “institutional cycle” long promised.
• “Crypto social” as a standalone concept is dead, but wallets, property, and programmable finance are more alive than ever.
• Regulation in the U.S. has done a complete about-face—crypto is being embraced at every level, with SEC/CFTC/OCC now in approval mode.
• Market moves are muted, but beneath the surface, crypto infrastructure and policy are at inflection points—especially for Ethereum.
• The crypto journey continues: old narratives die, others quietly mature, and the community rides “the next cycle”—hoping for more clarity and continued innovation.

(For further detail and direct quotes, see section-level timestamps.)