App-layer adoption beats infrastructure narratives

In this episode, I chat with Eric Yakes, author and founder of Epoch Ventures, about his Epoch Ventures 2026 Bitcoin Ecosystem Report, covering 21 predictions for Bitcoin's evolution this year. We tackle Bitcoin's path to taking gold's market share, the rotation trade catalyst that could drive prices to $150K+, and how Bitcoiners are accidentally FUDing themselves with quantum computing concerns. The conversation also explores the failure of crypto's "fat protocol thesis," Bitcoin's growing mainstream media acceptance, and the rise of application-layer adoption through projects like chat.

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