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The Block Runner is your final source for cryptocurrency technology, explanations and news.

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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.

160

Summary

We talk about the pitfalls of internet culture on society and how it distracts from finding true value. Information is much less reliable and trustworthy than it used to be and its becoming more difficult to process it through platforms like Twitter. What are the solutions to this dilemma and how is it impacting the human psyche? Also, SEC is continuing its aggression toward blockchain and cryptocurrencies, which is resulting in a mass exodus out of the U.S. Many giant organizations like a16z, Coinbase, Kraken, and others have already announced their plans to establish themselves abroad in reaction to these policies. What will this do to America’s status as a hub for innovation? Also, we dive deeper into Bitmap, the newest Ordinal standard being proposed to act as a foundation layer to the metaverse. This is a big deal because never has there been a standard for the metaverse and for it to all exist on the most secure and highest value blockchain in the universe, is a tremendous narrative.

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159

Summary

We discuss the metaverse progress and newfound interest after Apple unveils their new headset. The Vision Pro is one of the most powerful consumer electric devices ever created, and Apple has spent several years developing it. Why is big tech so focused on the metaverse when the pathway to its growth isn’t clear yet. We discuss and react to what was unveiled during WWDC. Also, how is the SEC suing Binance going to affect the web3 space? In our opinion, Binance has likely committed some of the violations they are accused of, but for the SEC to umbrella label so many projects as issuers of securities without establishing any new guidelines for crypto is over stepping. Also, Binance US is not a large institution in the grand scope of crypto, so if there are any actions to freeze volume there it will likely not impact the broader market.

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158

Summary

We break down our recent HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT where we discuss our project MetaZone raising 3 Million dollars in a seed round. This is very exciting for us as we’ve been building in the metaverse space for more than 3 years. All the hard work is paying off and we are now able to take our platform to the next stage to expand the application ecosystem of the 3D virtual realm. MetaZone is an app store where creators can upload 3D functional content that enables buyers to purchase the content as NFTs, and then deploy them directly onto land in the metaverse. Once deployed, users can interact with the content directly and experience the creations for all the beauty and utility they can offer. YouTube and crypto are our passions, but contributing to the metaverse with our project is one as well. We thank everyone who supports us and joins our community as we continue to develop and expand.

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157

Summary

We recap the interview we recently had with the co-founder of Bitensor, Jacob Steeves. The main profound statements from the interview include alignment theory between AI and humans through the use of cryptocurrencies. Also, the realization that a decentralized AI system will at one point scale to a massive network that corporate AI will have to participate. Also, we talk about how Sam Altman’s new initiatives with Helios and Worldcoin. Can providing humanity with a universal UBI of a crypto token be what is needed to align all people on earth toward a common goal of economic stability in the wake of human displacement as a result of AI. Are Sam Altman and Sam Bankman Freid alot alike in there views and does that impact the amount of trust society should have in Sam Altman after what happened to SBF? Also, what will it take to catalyze the metaverse in the same way ChatGPT has catalyzed the AI market to emerge, or how netscape onboarded millions of users to the internet? We try to identify what those events will look like for the metaverse.

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156

Summary

We spoke with Jacob Robert Steeves who is the founder of Bittensor, a project working to bring artificial intelligence to the blockchain space in hopes of decentralizing ownership and control over the technology. This project has been in development for many years and has an already viable ecosystem with operating nodes, validators, and stakers. The incentive mechanism they have incorporated involved the minting and distribution of TAO tokens which is the reward for participants in the ecosystem. The economics of the token follow Bitcoins exactly in its total supply and emission schedule. This is to ensure the network needed to support and grow Bittensor’s machine learning systems can grow to the scale of what Bitcoin has done. If successful the computational power of Bittensor will be 500 times more of what Google’s entire data infrastructure could provide. Jacob Steeves goes in depth about the philosophies that motivated him and his foundational team to work on this initiative and how the future of AI will look.

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