Bankless Podcast Episode Summary

Title: ROLLUP: Crypto Pain Market | Coinbase Super Bowl Rug Pull | IBIT Liquidation Cascade | Prediction Markets Explode | BlackRock x Uniswap
Hosts: Ryan Sean Adams & David Hoffman
Date: February 13, 2026

Overview

This Bankless Rollup is a dense, energetic overview of crypto's latest week—a period marked by extreme market pain, a controversial Coinbase Super Bowl ad, the explosive rise of prediction markets, blowups in price action, and major TradFi (traditional finance) and DeFi (decentralized finance) crossover moments (most notably, BlackRock's tokenized fund live on Uniswap). The hosts dissect sentiment shifts, the role of new products, arguments about crypto's cultural moment, and what cycles mean for the future.

Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Super Bowl 2026: The Coinbase "Rug Pull" Ad

[00:04–07:46]

Discussion:

• Only Crypto Ad in 2026 Super Bowl: Most ads were AI-focused; Coinbase stood out by using a Backstreet Boys song for a "rug pull" style reveal.
• Reactions: The ad started with "Backstreet’s Back" karaoke, then abruptly cut to "Crypto is for everybody" with the Coinbase logo.
  • Both hosts felt "got" by the ad—the attention-grabbing worked but left mixed feelings, especially among non-crypto natives.
  • Ryan Sean Adams: “I looked around…they all groaned, right. They looked at me, right? Because I'm like, I'm crypto.” [02:30]
  • David Hoffman: “Universal dissatisfaction, unhappiness with getting quote, unquote rugged about the ad.” [02:57]
• Meta-Analysis:
  • The public’s perception of crypto is negative in 2026 (“the PR is the worst since FTX”), making it hard for even optimistic messaging to land positively.
  • Reflecting on previous years: 2022 Super Bowl’s crypto ads were seen as more optimistic and future-facing.

Notable Quote:
“Crypto, at least in a pop narrative perspective…doesn’t have a thing…it doesn’t have in the popular consciousness a purpose, a broader purpose that it is solving for.”
—Ryan Sean Adams [05:34]

2. Market Bloodbath & Sentiment

[07:47–14:02]

• Crypto Down Bad: Market is -15% from the week prior, with BTC at $66K (-5%), ETH at $1,900 (-7%).
• “Generational Bottom” or “Cooked”: Debating if this is a low for major accumulation or if the space is truly in existential crisis.
• Market Cap Perspective: Total crypto market cap has halved from $4.2T to $2.34T.
• Post-FTX Sentiment Worse:
  • David: “This feels so much worse than FTX.” [12:38] — because “we had external enemies to blame before…now this feels endogenous.”
  • 2022’s crash felt accidental, now it feels like the juice has been squeezed out and the lack of new, organic growth “feels helpless.”

3. The Friday Crash: IBIT Liquidation Cascade

[14:03–19:27]

• Magnitude: Described as "the mother of all dips"—possibly “the third or fourth worst day for Bitcoin this decade.”
• Theories & Causes:
  • Potential forced liquidations in TradFi spilling into crypto (especially via BlackRock’s IBIT—record $10.7B traded that day).
  • The hosts speculate a TradFi player leveraged against several asset classes may have been liquidated, triggering a BTC collapse.
• ETFs Dominate Price Discovery:
  • “The trad market is bigger… the dog did wag the tail and we are the tail in this circumstance.”
    —David Hoffman [17:36]

Notable Quote:
“Because IBIT and because Bitcoin crypto assets are so tied into the rest of the financial system, we just took a volatility extreme hit…”
—Ryan Sean Adams [17:23]

4. Reasons for Crypto’s Bad Year

[17:56–19:27]

• Alex Krueger's list: hangover from previous failures, distraction by AI, institutions crowding out OGs, oversupply of coins, political uncertainty, and new Fed appointments with hawkish stances.
• Sometimes, “it’s just the four-year cycle.”

5. Prediction Markets Explode

[19:27–34:51]

Growth Stats and Trends

• Robinhood’s Success:
  • Q3 to Q4 annualized revenue from prediction markets up 4x: $115M → $435M. [26:19–26:37]
  • 11% of Robinhood’s revenue now comes from this new product.
• Super Bowl Volume:
  • $1.33B in Super Bowl betting—10x what Vegas did, per social reports. [27:41–27:53]
• Participants: Robinhood, Kalshi, PolyMarket—now major competitors.

Controversies:

• Insider Trading:
  • Challenged by mainstream media; Kalshi’s founder explained CFTC regulations apply at the same level as NASDAQ/NYSE. [29:14]
  • David: “There’s probably a lot more gray area, but more aggregate surface area for insider trading … when the promise of a prediction market is you can bet on anything.” [30:12]
• Regulatory Turf Wars:
  • States (like Nevada) vs. CFTC (federal regulation).
  • Chris Christie says prediction markets are unregulated, CFTC chair Mike Selig “strongly disagrees.” [31:57–32:09]
• Culture Clash:
  • Debate whether prediction markets are “truth machines” (market-driven, positive-sum) or just the “gamblification of society.” [34:09–34:51]

6. Layer Zero, Robinhood, and "The New Chains"

[34:51–43:56]

• Layer Zero: Launching their own L1 (“Zero”), EVM-compatible, ZK-based, trying to “front-run the Ethereum roadmap.”
  • Parallels drawn to previous cycles’ “Ethereum killers” (Near, etc.).
  • Heavily VC-backed; skepticism about building network effect, but impressive backers from TradFi.
• Robinhood Chain:
  • Testnet launches—an Ethereum L2 meant to power a public, open developer ecosystem.
  • Ryan: “I'm pretty excited about it… Robinhood tends to execute well, get UX right…” [41:00]
• MegaETH/Aztec Token Launch:
  • New tokens launching with bear market discipline (lower valuations, higher lockups, less hype).
  • Ryan: “Some of these tokens are launching at some pretty low valuations.” [43:38]

7. The Use-Case Debate: Is Crypto Only About Finance?

[43:56–47:47]

• Chris Dixon vs. Haseeb Qureshi:
  • Chris: Non-financial use-cases for crypto are still coming; policy and technical maturation will unlock them.
  • Haseeb: All scalable crypto use-cases so far are financial; "we shouldn’t propagate the ‘web2 meme’ about consumer use-cases.” [44:33]
• Proof in Talent Flows:
  • Farcaster (social) founders now joining Tempo (finance); Base de-prioritizing on-chain social for a focus on “tradable assets.”

Notable Quotes:
“Every single use case in crypto that has worked at scale has been financial in nature.”
—Haseeb (summarized by Ryan) [44:33]

"…if on-chain social or non-financial use cases of crypto have a chance, it's because we did the finance thing extremely thoroughly for a long time first.”
—David Hoffman [47:33]

8. BlackRock x Uniswap: Tokenized Fund Goes On-Chain

[54:25–56:57]

• BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund Comes to Uniswap:
  • Permissioned (whitelisted addresses) security token traded on a permissionless AMM (Uniswap).
  • Legally, this is a regulated security—not just a Gensler “maybe.” [55:31]
  • BlackRock even bought UNI tokens to participate in governance.
  • Ryan: “In a bull market, things would be going bonkers… and it's barely a whisper, but is a pretty big deal long term.” [56:57]

9. Mr. Beast’s Gen-Z Bank and The “Defi Mullet”

[57:00–59:15]

• Mr. Beast acquires banking app: Speculation over if/when crypto becomes integrated, especially via Tom Lee/Bitmine connection.
• Cultural Implication: “Content creators…getting deep into the financial sector…surprising.”

10. AI Agents & Crypto Wallets

[59:15–61:04]

• Coinbase launches event-driven, agentic wallets for AI agents.
  • “What happens when Coinbase just spawns 1 trillion users with AI?” —David [59:54]
  • Hosts suggest next bull narrative may be “AI + crypto wallets”—and that even this is about financial use-cases.

11. Scams, Crime & Pardons: SafeMoon & SBF

[61:10–64:45]

• SafeMoon Founder Gets 100 Months (8+ years):
  • “Crime is still crime. It just lags a little bit.” [62:11]
• SBF Propaganda & Pardon Rumors:
  • Unlikely, in David’s opinion, that SBF gets a Trump pardon. Polymarket odds would be low. [63:34–64:13]
  • Ryan worries the narrative is reversing and that “law” becomes optional for the powerful.

Comic Relief:

• The story of the missing 12-inch tungsten cube from the FTX offices—a symbol of the excesses and absurdities of the last cycle. [64:28–65:43]

Notable Quotes

“This feels so much worse than FTX. We had enemies to blame…now this feels endogenous.”
— David Hoffman [12:38]

“Crypto…doesn’t have in the popular consciousness a purpose, a broader purpose that it is solving for.”
— Ryan Sean Adams [05:34]

“The trad market is bigger… the dog did wag the tail and we are the tail in this circumstance.”
— David Hoffman [17:56]

“Imagine you stumble into a new product…that adds 11% of revenue."
— David Hoffman on Robinhood’s prediction markets [27:01]

"Every single use case in crypto that has worked at scale has been financial in nature."
— Haseeb, highlighted by Ryan [44:33]

“If BlackRock’s doing it, everyone’s gonna do it.”
— Ryan, on securities traded on Uniswap [56:10]

“Crime is still crime. It just lags a little.”
— David Hoffman, re: SafeMoon [62:11]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Super Bowl Coinbase Ad: [00:04–07:46]
• Market Review & "Generational Bottom": [07:47–14:02]
• Friday Crash & ETF Liquidations: [14:03–19:27]
• Prediction Markets Segment: [19:27–34:51]
• Layer Zero, Robinhood Chain & Rollup Competition: [34:51–43:56]
• Use-Case Debate (Finance vs. Non-Finance): [43:56–47:47]
• BlackRock x Uniswap News: [54:25–56:57]
• Mr. Beast Bank: [57:00–59:15]
• AI Agentic Wallets: [59:15–61:04]
• SafeMoon & SBF Pardon Segment: [61:10–64:45]
• Tungsten Cube Story: [64:28–65:43]

Tone & Style

• Conversational, witty, irreverent but always in-depth.
• A realist edge given the ongoing “pain market” with moments of nostalgia, debate, and cautious optimism.
• Hosts balance technical explanations, cultural analysis, and humor.

Bottom Line

Crypto is in the throes of a bear market, with users and traders feeling existential malaise, but underlying structural innovations (like prediction markets revenue, permissioned securities on DeFi rails, new chains and AI integrations) hint at industry resilience and adaptability. The existential question of “what is crypto for?” hangs in the air, as does the specter of regulatory, cultural, and technological change.

This episode is a must-catch for keeping up with market mood, narratives, and under-the-hood developments that may define the next upcycle––whenever it may arrive.