Episode Overview
Podcast: The Wolf Of All Streets
Episode: "Crypto rallies despite Gloom: Bull Trap or Bottom? #CryptoTownHall"
Host: Scott Melker
Date: December 12, 2025
Main Theme:
In this episode, Scott Melker hosts a dynamic and sometimes contentious roundtable featuring traders, analysts, and industry voices to unpack the paradox of crypto’s muted price action amid bullish news. The group debates whether the current rally is a bull trap or a true market bottom, navigates the dramatic ongoing institutional adoption, and unpacks broader macroeconomic and technological trends steering digital assets, power infrastructure, and tokenization.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Institutional Adoption and Tokenization Acceleration
- DTCC & Institutional Embrace:
- Major news as the DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation) receives SEC approval to move forward with tokenizing financial instruments – from ETFs to indices – with a bold target of completion by end of 2026.
- Scott Melker (01:36): “They're planning to tokenize, you know, ETFs, indexes, everything and move everything to blockchain rails like imminently by the end of ‘26.”
- Arm-in-arm with this trend is the desire for 24/7 global markets, instant, frictionless asset swaps, and diminished geographic barriers for retail and institutional investors.
- Centralized Gatekeepers vs. User Sovereignty:
- Debate over whether tokenization actually furthers decentralization or just repackages assets within old centralized frameworks (e.g., BlackRock or DTCC holding all the keys).
- Dave (06:04): “There are two versions: one where the current system stays in control and individual sovereignty isn’t supported – and one with the ability to opt out, supporting true financial privacy.”
2. “Onboarding” New Crypto Users: Is It Real or Hollow?
-
Bitcoin as an Investment Vehicle vs. Sound Money:
- Skepticism that ETFs and centralized wrappers are onboarding new “Bitcoiners” or just mainstream investors with no understanding or interest in self-custody and decentralization.
- Bruce (07:30): “When you have these paper claims with BlackRock Coin, you just don't have the power that bitcoin has. Somebody with $10 on their blockchain.info wallet has more sovereignty than somebody with a billion dollars in the ETF.”
-
Scott Responds (09:25):
- Argues this is still onboarding – but as an “investable asset in a normal portfolio,” not as a form of rebellion or personal sovereignty.
3. Incumbents Fighting Back: TradFi Lobbying and Power Dynamics
-
TradFi (Traditional Finance) Institutions Maneuvering:
- Citadel and major banks are lobbying aggressively, writing comment letters to stymie stablecoin yields and other disruptors at the regulatory level.
- Dave (13:30): “This is the then-they-fight-you phase… what’s really going to matter is when the rules get written and how much influence the existing players can tweak them.”
-
TradFi Wanting to Eat Crypto’s Lunch:
- TradFi would love to “customize it the way they want it and forget about the ethos of Bitcoin” (Tony, 11:56), but the crypto community is aware and gearing up for a fight.
4. Market Sentiment: Sleeping Giants and the Chicken-and-Egg Problem
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Are Catalysts Already Priced In or Yet to Matter?
- Despite massive regulatory and infrastructure catalysts, crypto prices remain rangebound.
- Dave (17:31): “People are literally putting their pinky toe in the water. It’s just such a small percentage… People are going to look back and wonder, ‘What the hell were we thinking with this four-year cycle stuff?’”
- Ongoing skepticism: the crypto-native crowd is increasingly being replaced by mainstream, institutional actors, changing who the “buyers” are.
-
No Clear Catalyst for Immediate Price Pop:
- Dave cautions against expecting sudden catalysts: “Very, very rarely are the catalyst is it catalyst happens and should happen. What generally happens: markets tend to move based off price, action and sentiment… then people try to invent a catalyst to describe it.” (57:09)
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Potential for Delayed “Waking Up”:
- Amateo (15:00): “All of this progress isn’t priced in yet—it’s pretty shocking. When renewed interest comes back, it’s going to be a shock to the system.”
5. Macro Backdrop: QE, Fiscal Policy, and Inflation
- Fed’s “QE Light” and the Big “Beautiful Bill”:
- Some participants highlight that the Fed and Treasury are managing liquidity injections carefully; any major crack in banks or credit will trigger massive intervention.
- Inflation may be focused on asset prices, not consumer goods, continuing the long-term theme of capital being favored over labor.
- Robert (41:57): “We’re entering kind of this like reflation sort of environment—commodities, weaker dollar, with high beta consumer cyclicals going nuts. It’s setting up for a super bullish outlook for bitcoin.”
- Bitcoin’s tight correlation to tech stocks and the fate of the “AI trade” are also identified as crucial to watch.
6. Energy, AI, and the Infrastructure Crunch
- AI and Power Markets:
- Increasing convergence: electricity is becoming the key commodity, driven by AI data centers and Bitcoin mining.
- Ryan (47:32): “Every single bitcoin miner… is now sitting on some of the best commodity on the face of the Earth because they're now in competition with AI.”
- Expect a shift of Bitcoin mining activity as power-hungry AI applications outcompete miners in accessible regions. Upcoming advances (small modular reactors, grid innovations, battery tech) seen as pivotal.
- Matt (53:00): “We’ve seen a lot of data centers already sitting basically empty… How do we upgrade the power providers so that they can get the power to the data centers?”
Selected Memorable Quotes & Moments
-
On True Bitcoin Onboarding:
- “Somebody with $10 on their blockchain.info wallet has more sovereignty than somebody with a billion dollars in the ETF.”
— Bruce, 07:54
- “Somebody with $10 on their blockchain.info wallet has more sovereignty than somebody with a billion dollars in the ETF.”
-
On Catalysts and Narrative:
- “People will invent a catalyst after the fact to explain moves, but it’s usually just price action and sentiment. That’s how markets work.”
— Dave, 57:09
- “People will invent a catalyst after the fact to explain moves, but it’s usually just price action and sentiment. That’s how markets work.”
-
On TradFi’s Lobbying:
- “You need to understand that's how the game is played. I don't like the game. I wish the game didn't exist… But understanding how the SEC and comment letters work, that's the game.”
— Dave, 14:14
- “You need to understand that's how the game is played. I don't like the game. I wish the game didn't exist… But understanding how the SEC and comment letters work, that's the game.”
-
On the Future of Power and AI:
- “Compute is really becoming the commodity and power is the scarcity, and more data shows AI training is continuing to climb… We’re going to need at least 20 to 25 gigawatts by 2030.”
— Matt, 45:26
- “Compute is really becoming the commodity and power is the scarcity, and more data shows AI training is continuing to climb… We’re going to need at least 20 to 25 gigawatts by 2030.”
-
On Institutional Tokenization and Control:
- “If the system only allows them to be the only one who's holding these tokenized assets, then it will have failed.”
— Dave, 02:58
- “If the system only allows them to be the only one who's holding these tokenized assets, then it will have failed.”
-
On Market Stagnation Despite Headlines:
- “We are literally having every institution like that's meaningful in the world, governments talking about the adoption that we dreamed of, and it’s not moving anything.”
— Scott, 35:54
- “We are literally having every institution like that's meaningful in the world, governments talking about the adoption that we dreamed of, and it’s not moving anything.”
Key Timestamps for Important Segments
-
DTCC Tokenization News & Implications:
[01:36]–[04:25] -
Sovereignty vs. Institutionally Custodied Crypto:
[06:51]–[09:24] -
TradFi Lobbying and Game Theory:
[11:56]–[17:31] -
Why Haven’t Prices Reacted? (Chicken-and-Egg/Catalyst Debate):
[17:31]–[19:50], [57:09]–[59:01] -
Macro Backdrop, QE, and Inflation:
[40:26]–[44:06] -
AI, Energy Infrastructure, and Future of Mining:
[45:26]–[52:50]
Tone & Takeaways
The episode is lively, occasionally combative but ultimately collegial, and rich with insider candor and healthy skepticism. The host and guests balance macroeconomic analysis, technical infrastructure speculation, and philosophy of decentralization. There’s an undercurrent of exasperation: why isn’t crypto roaring amid so many bullish structural developments?
The consensus:
- True decentralization and user sovereignty remain at risk of being subsumed by powerful incumbents—unless rails for true opt-out and self-custody are built.
- Institutional adoption pushes asset prices in portfolios, but not ideological adoption or everyday user empowerment.
- Despite an avalanche of good news, “the market” often needs time and a shift in sentiment before prices react—if they do at all.
- The next tech/energy transformation (AI, power demand, tokenized everything), now rapidly materializing, may redraw the map of both finance and infrastructure far quicker than most anticipate.
Final Word:
Crypto stands at a crossroads: the future is being built quickly, but whether it will serve true user empowerment or simply entrench old power structures is still up for grabs. Price action is lagging headline breakthroughs, and seasoned voices caution: be careful what you wish for—you might just get it, but not as you imagined.