State of The Market, Monad's ICO & The Stablecoin Gold Rush | Weekly Roundup

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Nov 14, 2025

This week, Rob and Santi delve into the state of the market, highlighting the strong bifurcation of winners and losers. They discuss Coinbase's cancellation of the BVNK acquisition and the surge of interest in stablecoin mergers. The duo also examines Monad's ICO and its implications for on-chain capital markets. Uniswap's fee switch proposal sparks a debate on revenue models, while the struggles in DAT markets suggest a potential consolidation. Tune in for insights on corporate chain preferences and the evolving landscape of digital assets!

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INSIGHT

Base-Layer Innovation Is Not Done

Base layer innovation remains unfinished and new L1/L2 entrants can be justified by specific future capital-market use cases.
Products with real on-chain product-market fit (e.g., Polymarket) will consume blockspace and drive demand for different infra.

INSIGHT

Stablecoin M&A Fever Hits Public Firms

Public companies face intense M&A pressure to secure stablecoin orchestration capabilities fast.
Boards weigh build-versus-buy, regulatory costs, and customer overlap when evaluating big stablecoin deals.

INSIGHT

Corporate Chain Meta Is Emerging

Banks and corporates will increasingly prefer owning or controlling chains to capture product and customer synergies.
Expect a 'corporate chain' meta where firms pull activity onto chains they control.

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This week, Rob & Santi are back to discuss the top stories of the week. We deep dive into the current state of markets, why Coinbase called off their BVNK acquisition, Uniswap's fee switch proposal, Monad's ICO, the bursting of the DAT bubble & more. Enjoy!

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(00:00) Intro

(01:37) State of The Market

(06:48) Coinbase Calls Off Their $2B Acquisition of BVNK

(13:40) Ads (Zcash, Katana)

(14:52) JPMorgan (JPMD) Launches On Base

(27:40) Uniswap's Fee Switch Proposal

(37:22) Ads (Zcash, Katana)

(38:34) Monad's ICO

(55:40) Ads (Geodnet, VanEck)

(57:14) Bursting of The DAT Bubble

(01:07:36) What Happened With Hyperliquid & Popcat?

(01:16:40) Content of The Week

Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.