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Is The Bitcoin Bottom In? #CryptoTownHall - The Wolf Of All Streets | Wave AI Podcast Notes

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Is The Bitcoin Bottom In? #CryptoTownHall

The Wolf Of All Streets

Tue Feb 03 2026

Summary

Podcast Summary: “Is The Bitcoin Bottom In?”

The Wolf Of All Streets with Scott Melker
Crypto Town Hall • February 3, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of Crypto Town Hall, hosted by Scott Melker, brings together a diverse panel of traders, investors, and technologists for a lively debate around the central question: “Is the Bitcoin bottom in?” The conversation weaves through market cycles, trader and institutional sentiment, the regulatory environment, and, increasingly, the transformative intersection of AI and crypto. The discussion is candid and unscripted, reflecting both cautious optimism and the uncertainties facing the digital asset landscape in early 2026.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Is the Bitcoin Bottom In? Perspectives on Market Cycles

Scott Melker opens with optimism, citing technical oversold signals and a case for bottoming, while noting he's a "glass half full" type (00:00).
The concept of "bottoming" as a process, not a fixed moment, is emphasized. Even if bitcoin drops slightly lower, the overall view is that a generational opportunity may be presenting itself.
- Scott Melker: “I'm Always looking to... And then people say, you said the bottom was in, but we went down 500 more dollars. Right. Or so. Or it's a close lower. So, yes, I think bottoming is correct.” (04:32)
Dave W. offers a historical analogy, linking gold's long-term uptrend as a sign for Bitcoin’s possible upside, and likens current market mood to the deepest parts of "crypto winter" (01:28).
- Notable quote: “Bottoming is a process.”
The consensus is that macro fear and apathy often mark cycle lows.

2. Washington, Theaters, and Stablecoin Regulation

Carlo recaps recent regulatory theater in D.C. on stablecoin yields, highlighting the lack of actual decision-makers present and the performative aspect of legacy financial interests.
- “The oldest tell that a party isn't looking to negotiate anything is to send negotiators with no authority to negotiate.” – Paul Grewal via Carlo (04:45)
Carlo frames this as an existential fight between crypto-native fintechs and traditional banks clinging to old models.

3. AI Agents and Crypto: The New Paradigm?

Conversation segues from regulation to the explosive rise and implications of autonomous AI agents interacting with the crypto ecosystem.
Amateo points out that AI agents are not just for show: they're building software, engaging in prediction markets, and accelerating multi-agentic coordination, all with crypto as native money.
- “Moat Book itself was built by this AI agent... agents are embracing crypto from the get go. There will be step function synergetic trading... This is the sleeper that's going to create the next retail hype cycle in crypto.” (11:07–13:38)
Carlo, Dave W., and others discuss the legal and tax gray zones created by agents acting on behalf of humans—raising accountability questions.
- “It's going to get weird when your agent does something you don't approve of and then whose fault is it?... The government's going to come after you and you’re gonna say, well, you own this agent.” (15:58)
AI/crypto convergence is seen as a major driver of the next altcoin season, potentially dwarfing previous user adoption cycles.

4. Verification, Trust, and the Role of Bitcoin

Tomer delivers a philosophical reflection on why in an age of diminishing institutional trust, Bitcoin’s verifiability stands out. For both robots and humans, what’s true is “don’t trust, verify.”
- “The only thing we can all agree on that's real is, is Bitcoin because it exists and is verifiable in the Internet.” (18:14)
- Sees Bitcoin as a cornerstone for the next phase of civilization built not on corruptible trust, but on code and verifiability.

5. Liquidity, Macro Data, and Bullish/Bearish Cases

Scott brings in economic data (PMI readings), positing that historic expansions in the business cycle have always correlated with major bitcoin rallies.
- “In the entirety of Bitcoin’s history, PMI has never pushed to 52.6 and not resulted in [continued expansion] for at least 306 days with an average of 385, sparking the beginning of Bitcoin's true expansion phase.” (21:25)
Dave W. and others remain cautious: technical metrics, sentiment, and "glass half empty" moods dominate, yet macro policy—the “run it hot” approach—is expected to be bullish for risk assets (22:46).

6. The State of Ethereum, Dev Activity, and Tokenization

Gaurav shares a sobering view from the trenches: massive fall-off in crypto entrepreneurship is evident, with fewer active builders and events shifting away from crypto themes (27:05).
- This is attributed to a combination of “side hustle” attitudes, lack of new capital, and overblown past hiring. Institutional adoption of tokenization and stablecoin rails, however, is at an all-time high.
The panel agrees that as banks and institutions integrate blockchain, demand for large dev teams wanes; utility shifts toward institutional applications requiring fewer blockchain-specific engineers (29:51).

7. Token Value, Fee Models, and Altcoin Survivability

As infrastructure advances drive transaction fees toward zero, the link between blockchain utility and token price is breaking down.
- Gaurav: “Chain utility and transaction don't really impact the token price anymore these days.” (41:49)
Dave W. insists that tokens will only accrue value if there’s a clear, transparent, mechanized route for ecosystem revenues to flow back to token holders—via burns, staking rewards, or other mechanisms (42:39).
- “If it's not clear, tokens that don't do it are going to languish and they're not going to do anything until that changes.”
The Gensler-era fear of securities law left founders silent on profit models, but with regulatory shifts, transparency is expected to become the norm.
The panel predicts a coming altcoin culling—only those with real, transparent rewards for holders will survive the next cycle.

8. Final Thoughts: The Next Big Unlock

Panelists agree: as tokenization, seamless cross-asset/country transactions, and AI-powered trading converge, the next big disruption is already unfolding.
- Dave W.: “The next big thing is going to be the ability for people to transact across asset classes, across currencies, across borders in a seamless, more efficient manner. Financial services wants to control, slow and limit that transition because of the economic inefficiencies that they currently benefit from.” (50:58)
The fight for this future pits agile, innovative startups against legacy banks skilled at both embracing and stalling adoption.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On bottom formation:
“Bottoming is a process.” – Dave W. (01:28)
“I'm Always looking to... people say, you said the bottom was in, but we went down 500 more dollars. Or it's a close lower. So, yes, I think bottoming is correct.” – Scott Melker (04:32)
On regulatory theater:
“The oldest tell that a party isn't looking to negotiate anything is to send negotiators with no authority to negotiate.” – Paul Grewal via Carlo (04:45)
On AI Agents:
“...Moat Book itself was built by this AI agent. What's more important is that all of these other software platforms... were built by the agents themselves... This is going to be massive. People are going to freak out.” – Amateo (11:07–13:38)
On accountability in an AI world:
“It's going to get weird when your agent does something you don't approve of and then whose fault is it? Right? Like, like the government's going to come after you and you're gonna say, well, you own this agent. They say, well the agent went rogue.” – E (15:58)
On verifiability and Bitcoin:
“The only thing we can all agree on that's real is, is Bitcoin because it exists and is verifiable in the Internet.” – Tomer (18:14)
On token value:
“Chain utility and transaction don't really impact the token price anymore these days.” – Gaurav (41:49)
“If it's not clear, tokens that don't do it are going to languish and they're not going to do anything until that changes.” – Dave W. (42:39)
On financial sector resistance:
“The financial services industry wants to control, slow and limit that transition because of the economic inefficiencies that they currently benefit from... that's the real fight.” – Dave W. (50:58)

Timestamps for Important Segments

Opening thoughts & “Is bottom in?” debate: 00:00–04:41
Regulatory theater, stablecoins, legacy finance: 04:43–07:28
AI agents, multi-agent systems, legal/ethical issues: 07:28–18:13
Verifiability, Bitcoin’s unique role in trustless systems: 18:13–20:40
Macro data (PMI), liquidity, and price cycles: 21:25–26:39
Ethereum/alt development, institutional tokenization: 26:45–33:46
Token value, fees, and survivability: 39:14–47:46
The “next big thing” in crypto/AI/finance: 50:58–53:04

Tone and Style

The tone is candid, humorous, and occasionally philosophical. Technical and market insight mixes with war stories and skepticism: the panel isn't afraid to call out hype, highlight regulatory absurdity, or point out uncomfortable truths about where value will (and won't) accrue in crypto's next era.

Summary Takeaway

The bottom may or may not be in for Bitcoin, but the pace of innovation—especially as AI and crypto merge—is accelerating. For traders and builders, the playbook is changing: transparency, real utility, and adaptability to exponential technological shifts will determine who survives and thrives in the coming cycles.

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Transcript

A (0:00)

Good morning everybody and welcome to Crypto Town Hall. Every weekday here on X at 10:15am Eastern Standard Time. We could have made a title about a grand news headline. Something about the Clarity act or any of the other things going on in the market. We decided with is the bitcoin bottom in? Because it's a lot more fun to have that debate and discuss it and then see where the conversation goes. I personally taking a look at the market right now, given I'm a glass half full kind of guy, I think that the bottom is very likely in here. I think there are a lot of reasons for that that we can dive into as we continue with the conversation. Before we do dive into that, we have an awesome sponsor and I do not want to be me and forget to give you this read. AI is reshaping the world. But right now it's stuck in the hands of just a few big players. But what if AI could run openly, verifiably and on chain? That's what zero G is building the world's first decentralized AI operating system open to everyone. Imagine a network where you don't just trade tokens, you train, store and run independent AI models at scale. No lock ins, no black boxes, no single point of failure. Just quick, cost effective auditable AI that anyone can build. If you believe the future of AI should be a public good, not another corporate monopoly, join us at 0g.AI that's the number 0g.a I. Okay, now we can actually dive in. Dave, I see that you are still on account number two and not back to account number one. Sorry.

B (1:28)

Yeah, yeah, well I, I decided because X being a profit organization, I would pay for premium on a second account so that they, I could actually. Because that's the only way you could actually chat with the premium support people. So. Okay, there we go. And given the fact that, that I'm tired of all the. The idiot copycats, I decided to go to my real picture. Not that that matters, people can obviously copy that too. But it. This is what I look like. So for those who care, this is a relatively recent picture. Although now I'm sitting here in my 60 some odd degree apartment because the heat still isn't working here in Miami. But you know, whatever it is, it is Smelter Town hall again. And I'm not taking a victory lap just yet. But every time everyone was calling for the death of silver and gold yesterday I was like, I don't think so. And I don't think so. I think that the, that the people, the Real interesting thing that I take away is. And you had an all caps, which mean I know it's your staff that did it, you know, post about Matt Hogan saying how we are in the depths of crypto winter. In fact, I think the quote was Leonardo DiCaprio in Revenant style crypto winter. And people who. There's a need for, there's a huge thing. This debasement trade is not, not, it's not crazy. I mean, you know, we are spending enormous amounts of money and so that's where people are putting their money. This too shall pass, but it doesn't pass in, in a second. And that's the thing. And time matters. And we're going to sit here and we're going to talk about crypto, we're going to talk about bitcoin and you know, it's, it's a, you're getting an opportunity, maybe a generational opportunity to buy in at a, what is at or near a bottom in the short term in an asset that is, its ceiling has risen. I mean, gold is up two and a half times over the last, you know, whatever period of time and effectively that raises Bitcoin ceiling by 2 1/2 times. So I think that's the way you have to look at it. I think we are closer to a bottom than anything else. But when you were, when, when it is so morose and we had Those idiots in D.C. you know, you see both sides come out of a meeting in D.C. and one says, oh, it was constructive, etc. And the other says, yeah, screw you, you know, that, that, that's what we have going on. And it's just, it's the kind of thing that, that shouldn't matter for bitcoin, to be blunt, but it does matter for crypto and it does matter for innovation. And so, you know, I think that's where we're at. So bottoming is a process. I see Carlo, go for it.

D (4:45)

So, yeah, yesterday was pretty much theater, in my opinion. I talked about it on the daily Finance show that one of the interesting observations about this White House meeting on the stablecoin yield issue was that no principals were invited, so we didn't have a chance for Brian Armstrong to meet face to face with Jamie Dimon. So Jamie Dimon can tell him to his face that he's full of shit or what he's saying was bullshit, which was what I was getting my popcorn out for. Because I think Brian is making great points. And I will cite a post yesterday by chief general counsel for chief legal counsel for coinbase, Paul Grewal, who nailed it. Quote, in my old days, in my old judge days, I mediated hundreds of disputes, big and small. The oldest tell that a party isn't looking to negotiate anything is to send negotiators with no authority to negotiate. And that's kind of what we saw yesterday, because the bank lobby is now trying to push this absurd narrative that they are concerned about passive yield on stablecoins because it will hurt community banks. And if you think the big banks care about what happens to community banks, then I'd love to get what you're smoking. And the fact that there were no principals at this meeting essentially just made this theater. We're no closer to a compromise on this issue. You had a phenomenal show today, Scott. And what Bill talked about with respect to what's really happening with stablecoins is something people may want to play back because he really nails it. And this is really an existential fight between Coinbase and which wants to be the Neo bank chase of the future and the legacy chase, which wants to continue to control their fee extractive triple, quadruple reserve model of spending your dollars many times that they possibly can. Also, I invited Preston up today because I think it would be great to talk about what the hell's going on in France with X obviously X major announcement yesterday and then of course, the continued attack on free speech. And I also think that AI and crypto are something we need to talk about because what we're seeing happening with these bots and these autonomous agents and people basically yoloing their identity over to these agents is going to create a myriad of unintended legal and tax consequences. But I think it's also going to be a major spark for renewed altcoin season because these bots are talking to each other and they're spending in crypto. And if we were looking for new users, there's billions of bots coming on board soon. So back to you, Scott.

C (11:07)

Yeah, I would say to that, Dave, is that it's actually happening much faster and is coming much sooner than people think. So I understand that there's a lot of slop and there's a lot of human intervention on say, Molt Book, this thing that went viral, which is essentially for those who don't know Reddit, that was created for all of these AI agents to be conversational and some of which the smoke behind the curtain did get revealed. But what's more important is that Moat Book itself was built by this AI agent. What's more important is that all of these other software platforms that these AI agents are engaging on was built by the agents themselves. And in the majority of cases, 100% built by the agents were with zero code. And now the agents. Yes. Was it human ideas that prompted some of the Software creations. Absolutely, but not always. This was also spurred by the creativity and the ingenuity of the agents themselves that are then going and deploying these things, creating platforms for the agents to then create multi agentic coordination. And they're already being built and launched with tokenizations and token access trading right off the bat. And these agents launched a prediction market. They launched a prediction market. Exactly. And you know what, they're not only going to launch their own markets, but they're going to be so much better at finding inefficiencies in all of the markets that people already participate in. So no, this isn't just conversational. This is actually conversational agents that have the ability to execute complex tasks. This isn't just like making a dinner reservation or a calendar. This is building dynamic software and then it's creating multi agentic coordination. So there's multiple step functions of innovation that are happening and they're embracing crypto from the get go. And there will be step function synergetic trading that's going to emerge out of this new platforms that come. I do think it's going to be huge for the industry and is probably, you know, my whole thought is that this is the sleeper that most people aren't really realizing that's going to create the next retail hype cycle in crypto. And it's going to be massive. It's going to be massive. People are going to freak out. It's going to be insane.

B (22:46)

Look, the, here's my indicators. My indicators are we have at the exact same time extreme fear going on months. We have, you know, people like Matt Hogan and myself effectively pulling on the hair shirt and saying, yes, we're in the middle of crypto winter. It's all terrible. We have Gary who you know, was one of the most unabashed bitcoin bull, not selling his bitcoin but basically yelling at everyone in the bitcoin community to stop being the children that they've always been expecting them somehow to become adult and you know, all of this stuff happening at the same time that the price is basically sitting on, on what, what you would call a long term support line. I mean, I find it, I find it interesting at the same time we know that, that this administration is going to do everything they can to run the damn economy hot. And whatever you want to call that, whether you call it liquidity, whether you, whatever you want to call it, they're going to run it hot. The GEP is going to continue to get pushed and they've made it very clear that they're not going to attack know affordability by hurting asset prices, making it very, very clear. And so we know that that's the backdrop. And if you want to short into that, well, go for it. Good luck. It's like the people who are shorting silver, assuming yesterday that, that we were going to collapse back down to 50 immediately. And you, you know, I mean, I felt alone because everyone on the thing was telling me I was nuts, but here we are and guess what? It's going to start marching back upwards again because it's exactly the same reason. Not just silver, both gold too. You know, it's like shorting assets. When money is going to continue to get printed and the economy is going to be run hot, we're going to be deregulating as fast as they can. I mean, I don't think it's a winning strategy. And you know, I don't know if Tom Lee is going to be right this time. I mean, he feels, you know, it feels like you have voice in the wind with Ethereum below, you know, you know, what are we at below 2300 again and you know, unrealized losses, yada, yada, yada. But, you know, look, as long as he has the staying power to sit there, I suspect he's going to be right, you know, although, you know, from a credibility point of view, a lot of people are kind of pointing at him as, as tilting at windmills. So, you know, there's a lot going on here, right? Damn. I saw Gorav up here and I just switched to listener. I was trying, I was trying to poke him. Oh, well, you know, so be it. That was my attempt, Scott, to see if I can gin up some more, you know, some more controversy. I don't know if you want to DM him and see if he wants to come back, but I think that understanding what's going on with Ethereum may be more important than this. Space was downloaded via Space Down.com visit.

B (50:58)

I was going to say we're getting close to time but it's actually the really interesting question is statements of value, where things go with tokenization, how this stuff becomes interoperable. And investors always want to try to know what the next big thing is going to be. And I'll stick my flag on the fact that the next big thing is going to be the ability for people to transact across asset classes, across currencies, across borders in a seamless, more efficient manner. And there's a huge unlock there. And quite frankly, the entire financial services industry wants to control, slow and limit that transition because of the economic inefficiencies that they currently benefit from. And that's the real fight. That's this, this whole thing. Yeah. Right now it's all about yield, which is absurd considering that it's a subsidy. We effectively have a subsidy to the big banks from the average American. But you know, whatever that is, what it is, you can call it whatever you want. But to me that's, that's what's going to happen. And we're going to be talking about this for years because the one thing I know having been and spent, you know, decades at these firms is they are at the same time working on the technology and understanding and knowing where they're going to put their chips in when it becomes available to them, then they, they can trade it. At the same time they're also having different people working on slowing it down and different people working on banning it. So you know, it's, it's, it's, that's the way these organizations operate because they've, they've understood and they've gone through multiple levels of disruption before and they learn. So for anyone who doesn't understand that. I'm happy to explain, but it's that's why I was asking Gaurav about Davos, about how come you know that that these banks are all working on various projects to tokenize and make things more efficient because they don't dare fall behind. But at the same time they, they want to crush all the info, all the startups because they don't want the startups to be able to compete with them. Does that all make sense?