Bankless Rollup: Bitcoin All-Time High, Is ETH Next?

Podcast: Bankless
Hosts: Ryan Sean Adams, David Hoffman
Date: July 11, 2025

Overview

In this Weekly Rollup episode, Ryan and David dive into a landmark moment as Bitcoin sets new all-time highs, discuss whether Ethereum (ETH) is poised to follow, and explore the evolving sentiment in crypto markets. They cover the surge of ETH treasury companies, ETF flows, the highly anticipated Pump token ICO, prediction market controversies, the changing approach of crypto foundations, and regulatory updates on tokenized stocks. The episode captures the blend of excitement, skepticism, and critical analysis that defines the current crypto finance landscape.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Bitcoin Reaches New All-Time Highs

• Bitcoin Price Action:
  • BTC breaks above $113,000, with new highs coming minutes apart.
    • “We are currently coming in at $113,000. 562 for a Bitcoin. The new all time high happened about, yeah, three minutes ago. $13,820. $820.” — David [01:55]
• Market Impact:
  • Overcoming the $100k–$110k range after a long consolidation.
  • Movement of “whale” coins from 2011 triggers speculation:
    • $8.6 billion in BTC moves from a dormant, early-mined address.
• Rumors & Theories:
  • Motives speculated: quantum computing fears, possible connection to Ross Ulbricht, hacks, or even U.S. government OTC buys.
    • “Imagine Hodling Bitcoin for 13 years up to $8.6 billion.” — David [03:10]
    • “Some people were saying, oh, well, maybe the whale was worried about, had some quantum fears.” — Ryan [03:15]

2. Ethereum: Sentiment Surge, But Price Still Lagging

• ETH Price Moves:
  • ETH breaks $2,800, up 7–8% on the week, outperforming BTC ratio-wise.
    • “Eth price is also on the move. $2820. A recent high of $2830. But ETH BTC is up on the week as well.” — David [05:30]
• ETF Inflows:
  • ETH ETF net inflows: $211 million, closely matching BTC’s $215 million despite a much smaller market cap.
    • “Now, some people are saying that all of this sentiment shift… but what Was it, like a 5, 6% price increase?” — Ryan [10:17]
• Sentiment Shifts:
  • Noted traders, including non-ETH-maxis, are publicly bullish ETH.
    • “When traders are like, okay, Eth looks actually kind of Bullish. You know, it's true. Because that's like the last asset that they'll say is bullish.” — David [08:08]
  • Community aligns in rare, coordinated bullishness: “It's just time.”
• Treasury Race:
  • Several public companies (Sharp Link, Bit Digital, BTCS, Game, Tom Lee’s fund) racing to acquire and publicly hold large ETH reserves.
    • “Joseph Lubin has stated that he intends on buying tens of millions of dollars of ETH per day.” — David [17:28]
  • Treasury company stocks often outperforming ETH itself.
    • “S bet is up 50% this week.” — David [12:21]

3. ETH as a Store of Value & Fiscal Asset – Mainstream Narrative Update

• Institutional Buy-in:
  • Major reports (Fidelity: “Blockchains as Emerging Economies”) now echo ETH as “store of value” and compare blockchains to emerging economies.
    • “Ether can serve as a medium of exchange and store of value.” — Ryan [19:19]
  • ETH’s monetary premium narrative is becoming mainstream.
    • “Listening to people shill the new ETH treasury on cnbc legit. Sounds like I'm listening to a bankless podcast in 2021.” — Ryan quoting Ryan Watkins [19:42]
• Cautious Optimism:
  • David’s “Two Sides of ETH” post: Celebrates narrative momentum but warns not to paper over unresolved L2 value capture and scalability issues.
    • “Let's not forget those and let's still, let's still be wear our problems on our chest like we always do.” — David [23:14]
• ETH Roadmap & Scaling:
  • Focus on Layer 2 (L2) value accrual back to ETH and progress toward 10,000 TPS.
    • “There's massive improvements that have gone on with ZK proving technology… credible path in the next five years to get to 10,000 TPS.” — Ryan [25:27]

4. Competitors, Solana, and the Layer 1 Landscape

• Solana ETF:
  • $75 million in ETF inflows in first week—much smaller magnitude but notable start.
    • “Solana, the ETF saw 75 million in inflows in the first week.” — Ryan [26:34]
• Layer 1s as ‘Companies’:
  • Newer L1s like Monad follow Solana’s business-style engagement, even making acquisitions—blurring lines between foundation and for-profit company.
    • “Solana is a fintech company… Everything downstream of Ethereum is definitely a company.” — David [56:25 & 57:15]

5. Pump Token ICO: Return of High-Profile Public Token Sales

• ICO Details:
  • $4 billion valuation, 1 trillion tokens, major exchanges supporting—mirrors 2017 fever but with new scale.
  • 25% of Pump Fund revenues go to buy-and-burn, giving the token clear utility beyond meme status.
    • “Is it 25% of the pump fund revenues will go to buy and burn the token.” — David [32:17]
• Hosts’ Takes:
  • Both decline to participate personally, but predict volatility and potential for price appreciation post-ICO.
    • “There needs to be a pretty solid amount of buying pressure to counteract all of the seed investors who are exiting… but, yeah, I bet you. I would bet it ends the week higher than $4 billion.” — David [33:08]
• Web3 Social Media Disruption:
  • Pump aims to build a streaming platform rivaling Twitch, with token incentives for content creators.
• Competition & Imitation:
  • Bonk’s launchpad quickly grabs market share, challenging Pump’s dominance (Bonk: 62% Solana launchpad revenue).
    • “Bonk fun captured 62% of pump of Solana launchpad revenue.” — Ryan [37:00]

6. Prediction Markets and the Zelensky Suit Controversy

• Viral Dispute:
  • Polymarket wager on whether Ukrainian President Zelensky would wear a “suit” before July—settlement hinges on subjective interpretation.
  • Even with credible news affirming he wore a suit, UMA Oracle rules “no,” leading to user outrage and allegations of bribes, but really exposing the subjective edge cases for prediction markets.
    • “Poly market and prediction markets generally are set up to collapse in a Schrodinger sense. And so if something has to collapse, like, one or two outcomes needs to happen.” — David [42:08]
    • “Buyer beware. If you're looking at prediction markets.” — Ryan [44:58]

7. Product Updates and Emerging Trends

• Phantom Wallet & Hyperliquid Perps:
  • Phantom, originally Solana-native, integrates Hyperliquid perpetuals—a blow to Solana-first projects but demonstrates wallet-powered superapps as cross-chain aggregators.
    • “This is Umaro Roy saying this. Phantom and hyper liquid integration is bullish for Phantom, bullish for Hyper Liquid, bearish for Solana was her take on this.” — Ryan [50:03]
• Tokenized Stocks and Regulation:
  • Robinhood faces EU scrutiny for “private share” tokenization; Hester Peirce (SEC) warns against questionable structures; yet moves are afoot for compliant, regulated tokenized securities in both EU and US.
    • “Most successful crypto products start off as kind of illegal. From Coinbase to Circle to Polymarket to Uniswap to Hyper Liquid.” — (Austin, quoted by David) [59:34]
    • “By the end of the year, we'll have it done in the right way in the US too, and it'll be regulated.” — Ryan [63:44]

8. Regulatory and Legal Milestones

• Tornado Cash Sanctions Fight:
  • David participates as a plaintiff; US Treasury quietly drops case over OFAC sanctions, affirming that smart contracts are not illegal.
    • “I won by default. So I was right in my curmudgeonous of being compelled to file documents because Tornado Cash is technology. It is not illegal. You cannot make a smart contract illegal.” — David [53:59]
• Layer 1 & Foundation Business Development:
  • Solana and Monad take aggressive, enterprise-style approaches to dealmaking—unlike the Ethereum Foundation's more hands-off ethos.
    • “The Solana foundation is heavy on the BD side of things. Right? They're trying to make deals happen… Ethereum foundation doesn't do at all.” — Ryan [55:45]

9. Bitcoin Ingenuity: Bluetooth Transactions

• Jack Dorsey’s Air Miner Project:
  • Decentralized Bitcoin transfers without internet—envisioned for censorship resistance and offline environments.
    • “Jack Dorsey introducing a decentralized messaging service and Bitcoin transfer service. Not using cell towers, not using an Internet connection, but just using Bluetooth.” — Ryan [57:25]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s just time to be bullish.” — Ryan [07:37]
• “Let's not forget those and let's still, let's still be wear our problems on our chest like we always do.” — David [23:14]
• “I definitely think I've got some [PTSD]… you've been hurt too many times.” — Ryan [26:24]
• “I consider Solana to be a company.” — David [56:25]
• “All good things on blockchains are all slightly illegal.” — (Austin, quoted by David Hoffman) [59:31]
• “I won by default. So I was right… Tornado Cash is technology. It is not illegal. You cannot make a smart contract illegal.” — David [53:59]
• “Buyer beware. If you're looking at prediction markets.” — Ryan [44:58]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Bitcoin All-Time Highs, Whale Moves: 00:00–05:16
• Ethereum Sentiment and Price Action: 05:23–14:53
• ETH Treasury Race & Mainstream Narrative: 14:53–25:27
• Cautious Bull Thesis / ETH Roadmap Gaps: 21:33–26:24
• Layer 1 Competition, Solana, & Foundations: 26:34–27:38; 55:45–57:22
• Pump Token ICO Analysis: 31:08–36:39
• Prediction Markets & Zelensky Suit Debate: 37:55–44:58
• Phantom + Hyperliquid / Superapp Trend: 48:03–50:49
• Legal Updates – OFAC/Tornado Cash: 52:01–54:41
• Jack Dorsey’s Air Miner & Bitcoin Bluetooth Transfers: 57:22–58:40
• Tokenized Stock Regulation & Robinhood: 59:04–64:10

Takeaway

The episode captures the current crypto zeitgeist: euphoria over Bitcoin highs, anticipation and strategic positioning around ETH’s next move, intensifying competition between protocols, and a nuanced recognition of both achievements and unresolved challenges in the ecosystem. The rise of ETH treasury companies, a renewed ICO cycle, and increasing regulatory tension provide plenty of fuel for speculation and strategic debate among crypto’s most bankless listeners.