Podcast Summary: The Wolf Of All Streets — Uptober Day 2: Is Bitcoin About to Smash a New ATH? #CryptoTownHall
Host: Scott Melker
Date: October 2, 2025

Episode Overview

This special Uptober episode finds Scott Melker and an all-star panel discussing Bitcoin’s historic run (hovering near $120,000), stock market resilience amid a U.S. government shutdown, and the nature of current market enthusiasm. The conversation weaves through personal stories of Bitcoin fortunes and misadventures, changing investor psychology, stablecoin and tokenization advances, potential regulatory shifts, and the transformative future of decentralized AI, highlighted by an in-depth interview with Michael Heinrich of Zero G.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Market Euphoria & Bitcoin's Record Run

• BTC Price Context: Bitcoin trades at ~$119,700, up over $10,000 as October begins—record territory.
• Historical Perspective: Despite 20 U.S. government shutdowns in 40 years, markets typically shrug them off. Recent data (ADP jobs, manufacturing) shows economic weakness, but asset markets are exuberant—perhaps irrationally so.
  • “[Markets] can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” — Scott Melker (00:28)
• K-shaped Recovery: Asset owners perform well, while Main Street lags. Expected rate cuts may further inflate asset prices, favoring Bitcoin and gold as safe havens.
  • “If we do go into a rate cutting cycle, that means we’re going to see a big explosion, inflation in assets... Bitcoin and gold should perform very well.” — Dwayne (01:55)
• Market Psychology:
  • Compared to 2021, less retail-driven FOMO; most current interest/investment is institutional and corporate, resulting in “quiet accumulation.”
  • “You’re not going to see the CFO of a publicly traded company…tweet about their Treasury play, but this quiet accumulation is happening.” — Eric (06:00)
  • “I don’t see the FOMO we saw four or five years ago. Are y’all seeing that or am I just not seeing this correctly?” — Gary (05:32)

Timestamps:

• Market state: 00:00–04:18
• Institutional vs retail enthusiasm: 05:50–08:27

2. Long-Term Holders & Opportunity Cost

• Veteran HODLer Stories:
  • OGs reflect on personal regret and pride—bittersweet tales of buying laptops, cars, and houses with Bitcoin now worth millions.
    • “Every time I sell bitcoin over the past 13 years it kicks me in the teeth… I have laptops that are like four million dollar laptops.” — Marshall (08:57)
  • Spending BTC: Balance between financial sovereignty and meaningful life experiences.
    • “You got to live life. Time is a real thing... At some point, you got to do something.” — Bruce (15:28)
    • “I bought my parents a house. If I had the bitcoin… whatever, it doesn’t matter. That is the point.” — Marshall (15:03)
• Wealth & Lifestyle:
  • Many with huge BTC holdings live simply by choice; social connectedness seen as more valuable than material excess.

Timestamps:

• OG reflections: 08:57–15:28
• Lifestyle & value of experiences: 17:52–20:07

Notable Moment:

• “You better off living like a regular middle class person and actually trying to work on saying like okay, I’m gonna have, you know, Thursday night, movie night with the friends… You probably be better off and man, happier.” — Bruce (19:30)

3. Stablecoins, Tokenization, and Regulatory Shifts

• Rapid Stablecoin Evolution:
  • Despite regulatory uncertainty (pending ‘Genius Act’), projects and major infrastructure players (Stripe, BlackRock, SUI, Tether) are moving fast.
    • “Very creative things are happening in stablecoins and no one’s sitting by waiting for the Genius Act…They’re going full throttle.” — Carlo (21:24)
  • SEC and CFTC converging on transition to blockchain-based stock trading. SWIFT exploring 30 blockchain integrations.
    • “It turns out this technology may be better than the 1970s garbage they’re currently all using.” — Scott (21:58)
• Banks at Risk:
  • Many banks (outside top tier) are slow to respond—may be “stress tested” as customers demand instant, low-fee, yield-generating stablecoin options.
    • “I think banks are going to get stress tested significantly…this sector breaks things and moves fast…they’re fumbling the bag here.” — Carlo (33:25, 36:52)
• Possibility of Regulatory Clampdown:
  • Concerns about what might happen if anti-crypto lawmakers gain power (e.g., Elizabeth Warren as Senate Finance Chair):
    • “She literally stole from the American people to give to crooked, stupid bankers because of stupidity. I mean, why not?” — Bruce, re: TARP and 2008 bailouts (26:18–29:59)
  • Counterview: “I don’t think you can put this horse back in the barn.” — Carlo, on unstoppable stablecoin/tokenization momentum (33:25)
• Fractional Reserve Risks:
  • Even with strict rules, there’s skepticism that banks won’t eventually find a way to introduce leverage into stablecoins.
    • “There’s always strict laws that get bent for the right people.” — Ryan (39:50)

Timestamps:

• Stablecoin/tokenization news: 21:23–24:45
• Regulatory and political risk: 25:02–33:25
• Banks’ existential challenge: 33:25–39:50

4. Spotlight Interview: Michael Heinrich & Zero G (0G AI)

Decentralizing Artificial Intelligence

• Mission:
  • Building “the world’s largest AI L1” as an open, infinitely scalable, fully composable operating system for decentralized AI (DAI), offering transparency, verifiability, and community ownership—opposite of “black box” centralized AI.
    • “You don’t know what’s going on underneath the hood…you’re trusting a single entity… In opposition, what we’re building is decentralized AI: transparent, verifiable, safe and community owned.” — Michael Heinrich (41:39)
• Technical Milestones:
  • High throughput data availability (50 GB/s), scalable model storage, compute infrastructure for AI workloads, and a “police force” for AI alignment.
  • First team to train a 107-billion parameter model using decentralized infrastructure.
• Recent Launch:
  • Aristotle Mainnet + DAO legal wrapper, 100+ launch partners (Chainlink, Quicknode, LayerZero).
  • “We did multiple phases of the airdrop… and a lot of posts: ‘You changed my life, this is the first seven figure airdrop I’ve ever received.’” — Michael (49:35)
• DAI Ecosystem Development:
  • Focus for next year: expanding liquidity, building unique DAI applications (like “AIVerse” and ERC-7857 “INFT” standard for AI agent ownership), advancing research, and decentralized governance.

Notable Quotes:

• “If you want to build any type of DEFI application, you need a very robust kind of infrastructure…that’s why things like secure oracles are important.” — Michael (47:28)
• On community reaction: “I don’t think in the history of mankind we’ve ever had something like this where there was sweeping happiness across the board. Imagine doing something in crypto without having critics and people being upset.” — Scott (51:39)

Timestamps:

• Zero G mission & architecture: 41:39–49:35
• Mainnet launch, airdrop, outlook: 49:35–54:18
• DAI’s future and how to get involved: 54:18–55:19

Memorable Moments & Quotes (with Timestamps)

• Bitcoiners’ Regret:
  • “I have laptops that are like four million dollar laptops.” — Marshall (08:57)
• Social Wealth over Material:
  • “Hanging around with people is one of the most valuable things we can do.” — Bruce (19:30)
• Stablecoin Momentum:
  • “No one’s waiting for the Genius Act…They’re going full throttle.” — Carlo (21:24)
• On Regulatory Hypocrisy (Fiat System):
  • “She literally stole from the American people to give to crooked, stupid bankers because of stupidity. I mean, why not?” — Bruce (26:18)
• On Banks’ Future:
  • “My mantra is basically: make your wallet your bank.” — Carlo (36:52)
• On Decentralized AI:
  • “You don’t know what’s going on underneath the hood…you’re trusting a single entity… In opposition, what we’re building is decentralized AI … transparent, verifiable, safe and community owned.” — Michael Heinrich (41:39)

Conclusion

The episode chronicles a pivotal moment for Bitcoin and crypto at large. While the price action is euphoric, panelists see a subtle, structural shift: not the raucous retail mania of prior years, but institutional and infrastructural buildup. As regulators and technologists drive into new territory—stablecoins, tokenized assets, and decentralized AI—the risks, possibilities, and ironies of late-stage fiat are hotly debated. Michael Heinrich’s segment underscores a future beyond mere finance, pointing to a decentralized web where AI is no longer a corporate black box but community-powered infrastructure for the next frontier of apps.

For listeners:

• Current market action is both historic and, in some ways, unprecedented in its character: quieter, bigger, more institutional.
• Major technological advances in stablecoins, tokenization, and especially decentralized AI are setting the stage for another era of transformation.
• Regulatory uncertainty remains, but the technology’s pace is outstripping policy.
• Zero G (0G AI) exemplifies the push for open, verifiable AI infrastructure—if you’re interested in the next wave of Web3+AI, now’s a great time to explore.

Panelists & Guests Mentioned:
Marshall, Eric, Gary, Bruce, Carlo, Michael Heinrich (Zero G), Ryan

For more: Visit 0G AI (0g.ai), and follow Michael (@MichaelH0G) on X.