What does BlackRock’s former crypto lead see in Ethereum that others still miss? Joseph Chalom joins Bankless to take us inside the IBIT/ETHA ramp, why BUIDL launched on Ethereum mainnet, and the simple—but powerful—framework he uses to value ETH as “high-octane money.” We break down staking inside ETFs, the tokenization roadmap from stablecoins to the S&P in your wallet, and the real mechanics of ETH treasury companies—mNAV premiums, ATMs, converts, and the transparency metrics that matter. Less hype, more architecture: if security, liquidity, and 24/7 settlement are the future, this is the bridge.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
3:53 Larry Fink’s arc: skeptic to champion
9:15 Joseph’s crypto journey
18:09 Aladdin × Coinbase Prime
20:55 Building IBIT
24:28 ETHA & ETH ETF staking approval
36:04 Tokenization roadmap & magnitude
44:48 SharpLink’s ETH bet
50:13 Ether as “high-octane money”
58:54 Beyond ‘buy and hold’
1:03:11 ETH vs BTC treasuries
1:06:09 Radical transparency
1:10:31 mNAV, ATMs & buybacks
1:19:10 Where’s the price impact?
1:25:32 How many treasuries win?
1:29:25 Closing thoughts
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RESOURCES
Joseph Chalom
https://x.com/joechalom
Sharplink
https://www.sharplink.com/
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