Guests:

- Ran Neuner, Founder of Crypto Banter

- Austin King, Co-founder of Omni Network

- Alexei Kulevets, Co-founder of Walken

Top 3 Key Takeaways:

1. “We are in a raging bull market.”

To kick off the conversation, we asked our guests where we were in the market; there was some discussion between the three if we were in a bear or bull market right now. Ran states that we are in a “raging” bull market, with Bitcoin up 85% compared to last year and seeing the highest level of on-chain transactions. Though Alexei shared how difficult it was starting Walken during a bear market, he agrees we still see signs of a bull market, despite not having 100x altcoin increases. Austin speaks from a builders perspective, stressing that one of the failures people make is demoralization and demotivation during a bear market. Building a team culture who are excited to build despite market conditions is essential. But he says there are many opportunities in the last six months and to come in the upcoming half year. Ran finishes the conversation by stating that his bull market differs from the others as it’s led by institutional inventions, like BlackRock, instead of retail investors. 

2. People are starting to understand that crypto is the neutral financial rail that fuels our global economy.

The conversation then discusses how the previous bear market demoralized the community. Ran told the audience that he left crypto for two months in 2021 but re-entered when DeFi became a top narrative. Austin says that when comparing the previous 2018 bear market, people didn’t know if crypto would make it. Still, in this cycle, you have people saying that tools like Bitcoin have the potential to revolutionize the financial system – but the fundamental difference is that the world understands that crypto is inevitable. That is why the US government is looking to clamp down on crypto through regulatory action. On the other hand, other global governments, like in Europe and Asia, are starting to understand and seize the opportunity that crypto will be the neutral financial rail that the global economy runs on. 

3. With the increase of rules and regulations, the days of 100x might be over.

Going deeper into regulation, the three guests mentioned that people don’t want anarchy and chaos; at the end of the day, people in the crypto space want to build valuable systems meaning they are very open-minded about moving their businesses to countries that have a better understanding of crypto and the potential it has in the future. Additionally, Alexei mentioned that one of the reasons the SEC is cracking down on crypto right now proves that the industry is maturing and could become a threat to other fiat currencies, like the dollar. He goes on to say that regions like the UAE are embracing innovation and will be an interesting place for the future of crypto to evolve.