This episode of the Blockrunner Podcast breaks down one of the most revealing weeks we’ve seen at the intersection of crypto, AI, and creator monetization.
What began as a promising experiment in creator capital markets quickly turned into a live stress test for liquidity, incentives, and trust. We walk through the rise and collapse of the Ralph token, why it initially made sense, how it gained traction, and why it unraveled the moment the creator sold. The fallout wasn’t just about price action. It exposed deeper structural problems that most internet capital markets haven’t solved yet.
From there, the conversation expands into the accelerating timeline toward AGI, why looping AI systems and agent swarms change the nature of work, and what happens to human purpose when intelligence becomes abundant. We react to Davos conversations, including moments where Bitcoin is openly laughed at by legacy financial institutions, and explain why those reactions reveal more ignorance than confidence.
We then tackle the uncomfortable question most Bitcoin holders avoid: how the network remains secure long-term. Transaction fees alone are not a viable answer. We explore why Bitcoin’s security budget faces a real challenge over the next decade and why a second subsidy may be the only credible path forward without changing Bitcoin’s core protocol.
This episode ties everything together into a single thesis. Internet capital markets are early, powerful, and inevitable, but without proper incentive design and liquidity structure, they will continue to fail in dramatic fashion.
If you’re thinking seriously about AI, crypto, creator monetization, and Bitcoin’s future, this episode will challenge your assumptions.
Learn more about the second subsidy thesis at natgmi.com.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, we gather to discuss numerous developments. One development that has the crypto world talking is Bitcoin's approach to the all time high. We discuss why Bitcoin is approaching an all time high and whether or not adoption has propelled the value high or Bitcoin's scheduled bull run. We dive right into what Ethereum 2.0 is and the potential improvements we're going to be seeing. We spoke to Splinterlands and we got an inside look at a proper play to earn game that has successfully created a game with sustainability. Finally, we announce the Corona Zombie first person shooter winners.
With the recent surge of Bitcoin we take a look back at our predictions and acknowledge the cadence that Bitcoin has in the market. Regardless of the environmental effects surrounding Bitcoin, it seems that Bitcoin has a mind of its own. The latest run has Bitcoin now going past $17k. The last time this happened was back in 2017 during the previous bull run. We then get into Decentraland's district dilemma where we describe the lack of content being deployed. MetaZone finally supports district deployments where meta-owners can now contribute their meta to districts. This means that you don't have to be a landowner to purchase and deploy a meta. This means revenue generating metas can now be deployed and revenue can be shared with districts. Big things are happening in Decentraland. Stay tuned to the end for the next event!
On this episode we collect our thoughts on what's needed for sustainability for those looking to get involved in the metaverse. There are several events happening all the time in Decentraland, but events are reduced to limited appearances rather than a persistent experience and exploration opportunities. The Decentraland community is among the most active and involved out of all the metaverses. One of the more important things the community can improve on is DAO proposals and discussion. Finally, we draw the winners for wearable NFTs for the latest Corona Zombies event.
We review the Halloween event that Decentraland launched that showcased a quest that spanned over 5 days. It showcased questing that required you to teleport to different locations to finish off your tasks. This shows that our premise that you can build a game without owning a large connected parcel. We also discuss the most dominant NFT asset class that represents over 99% of all NFTs. There's a new NFT class emerging that we consider as a productive NFT versus the well known unproductive NFT which depends on the Greater Fool Theory.
We look back on a year of content development in Decentraland. We go from a gray grid of 90,000 parcels to a fully rendered representation of actual content deployed within the metaverse (https://decentraland.icu/). We provide how it makes logical sense that all NFT minting projects will use a side chain because its a sound business decision. If a sidechain wasn't an option will it make sense for developers to keep assets off chain to avoid gas fees? We try to make sense of an NFT art being sold for $110K. We break down what's needed to sell art in the 6 figures.