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January 8, 2026

Summary

First episode of 2026 and we’re setting the frame for what matters this year: AI is hitting escape velocity, “creation” is getting commoditized, and that changes everything from business models to the metaverse thesis.

We talk through the cultural shift (the 2025 existential turn), why low-sentiment periods are when you should be paying the most attention, and how social media incentives reward overreaction. Then we zoom out to the macro: metals ripping, Bitcoin lag dynamics, and what a “real” 2026 setup could look like.

On the crypto side, we dig into the creator coin debate and why the fan-to-investor switch breaks expectations, using the Nick Shirley Zora post as a live case study. Finally, we share our north star: a world where CoinGecko has an “NAT” tab, non-arbitrary tokens become a real market category, and miners distributing NAT becomes the moment the market can’t ignore.

220

Summary

Recent events have caused a tremendous rift in Bitcoin’s macro economic position in time. With Donald Trump’s failed assassination attempt came a tremendous uprise in Bitcoin price which is a result of sentiment growth due to a Trump second term increasing in likelihood. We discuss the speculation around Bitcoin becoming a reserve asset for the United States and how this will impact the future of the crypto industry. Also, will the ideas discussed in SoftWar apply after an official government endorsement from the Trump cabinet furthering the demand to acquire and position positively within the Bitcoin network from a nation state perspective. We then react to Casey Rodarmor’s latest mention of DMT protocol and the negative statements his team has to it.

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219

Summary

We spent some time with Stan and Chris from the DMT-Natfrogs team to discuss the origins of the collection and re-explore the chaotic early days of UNAT minting. They explain how NatFrogs started as a dead mint but transitioned into a community takeover which has made it one of the more appreciated and valued collections in the DMT UNAT market. We explore what makes DMT truly unique for artists and creators and how the Natfrog team intends to expand their ecosystem moving forward. Also, we dive into the next project of focus in NatFlyers, which aims to bring physical products to UNAT holders. In this case, a variety of UNIQUE pepe themed sneakers will be distributed in an upcoming Mscribe BlockPad on July 10th. Holders of this asset will have the ability to purchase a real world version of the sneaker unique to the parent digital version they own. This can open a massive new market for DMT phygitial products into the future.

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218

Summary

MDV has created and is launching one of the more profound UNAT collections DMT has seen yet. DMT-VESSELS is the first DMT UNAT collection that uses 3D Generative Art to bring Bitcoin’s blockchain data to life in a magnificent way. The collection showcases the immense potential when using Bitcoin block information in the generative creation process. Below are features of the collection that make it notable. We discuss with the creator his origins in the Ordinals space and his affinity toward leveraging on-chain Bitcoin data in his creative process even before DMT became standard. Also, we discuss his interpretation of the metaverse and how 3D art will play into it, along with details around the existing art metas of today and how future experimentation can take on-chain art into a new and fresh direction.

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217

Summary

We have an insanely insightful conversation with Bob Bodily PhD, Founder of Bioniq, an NFT/Ordinals marketplace built using ICP to amplify the user experience beyond anything that can exist natively to Bitcoin L1. We discuss the current state of Bitcoin ecosystem affairs with Runes and Ordinals, as well as talk about the many metaprotocols developing on top of Bitcoin L1. We then discuss TAP Protocol’s most recent announcement to partner with ICP in order to bring Bitcoin native assets to EVM/ICP smart contract environments. This will amplify the ability for developers to make cool stuff using Bitcoin and introduce new ways to improve the overall UX for users. We also discuss the differing approaches to scaling the developments happening on Bitcoin from L2s, to sidechains, to BitVM and OP_cat.

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216

Summary

$BAMK has become a top 5 Rune project and stands out among the rest of them simply due to the effort to do something interesting on Bitcoin outside of just memes. The problem BAMK is attempting to solve is the absence of a reliable stablecoin for users of the Bitcoin ecosystem to leverage. In other blockchains there are a variety of stable devices to choose from but none native to Bitcoin to keep all liquidity events onchain without the need of a centralized service. The stablecoin BAMK is introducing is called nUSD, which is derived from Ethena’s USDe, which is a synthetic dollar stablecoin on Ethereum. We ask Jack Liu how it all works and the magnitude of implications for the Bitcoin economy if it becomes widely adopted and standard for stablecoin issuance.

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