The Rollup Crypto Cycles, AI Alpha, ARK’s Bets and DATs Trading with Grant Shears, Lorenzo Valente and Rob Hadick
Aug 26, 2025
Grant Shears, a Blockmates contributor, dives into on-chain trends and the intersection of football and crypto. Lorenzo Valente from ARK sheds light on market dynamics influenced by macroeconomic factors. Rob Hadick from Dragonfly shares insights on the venture landscape and the potential of decentralized asset trading (DATs). They examine trading strategies, the role of AI in financial markets, and the impact of Ethereum treasury companies on DeFi. The conversation also touches on the implications of recent market fluctuations and the evolving landscape of stablecoins.
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Episode notes
How Football.fun Onboards Players
- Grant described depositing USDC on Base and buying player tokens credited as "gold" in football.fun's transfer market.
- He compared the UX to Uniswap and noted visible unrealized PnL that fueled weekend mania.
Guardrails Reduce Early Bot Extraction
- Football.fun enforces purchase limits and high exit costs to prevent early bundling and bot dominance.
- Those guardrails aim to produce fair distribution and slow extractor capture during launch.
Try New Protocols With A Small Ticket
- Be curious and try new on-chain products with small amounts before committing heavily.
- Read docs and do basic due diligence to find opportunities before the masses.