In this episode, recorded live at Buidl Europe 2026, host Sebastian Couture leads a panel with Ben Lakoff (Bankless Ventures), Richard Muirhead (Fabric Ventures), Aurora Orellana (G20 Strategies), and Matthew Arrow (Dark Forest). Together, they tackle the existential question facing the industry: can Cypherpunk values like self-custody and permissionless survive as multi-billion dollar institutions become the primary drivers of adoption?
The discussion delves into the tension between individual sovereignty and the regulatory reach of organizations like the FATF, which they describe as a "Goliath" accountable to no one. They explore the concept of the "DeFi Mullet" a centralized user interfaces powered by decentralized backends and how privacy tech is becoming essential not for institutions seeking defensible competitive moats. Finally, the conversation looks at how global competition between jurisdictions will define the next decade of financial freedom and what it truly means to be a Cypherpunk in 2026.
Topics
- 00:00 Intro & Context
- 04:15 Cypherpunk Values in an Institutional World
- 09:30 Permissionless Deployment & Self-Custody
- 15:00 The Regulatory Spectrum: KYC vs. Freedom
- 21:45 The FATF & Global Financial Surveillance
- 27:10 Jurisdictional Competition & Portability
- 35:20 Selling Privacy to Institutions vs. Individuals
- 42:15 The DeFi Mullet & Atomic Settlement
- 49:00 Barriers to Entry: Legacy Mainframes & Career Risk
- 55:30 What it Means to be a Cypherpunk in 2026
Links
- Ben Lakoff on X: https://x.com/benlakoff
- Richard Muirhead on X: https://x.com/RichardMuirhead
- Matthew Arrow on X: https://x.com/mattarrow
- Bankless Ventures: https://bankless.ventures/
- Fabric Ventures: https://www.fabric.vc/
- Gnosis: https://gnosis.io/
Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis has been building core decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem since 2015. With the launch of Gnosis Pay last year, we introduced the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Start leveraging its power today at http://gnosis.io
