Bankless

NEAR founder and Transformer co-author Illia Polosukhin joins us to break down why today’s AI agents still fall short, what’s missing to make them actually useful, and how IronClaw could unlock secure, private, autonomous AI.

We also explore Illia’s bigger thesis: AI becomes the interface, blockchains become the backend, and both reshape how humans, agents, and digital markets interact.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

0:43 Illia’s AI Journey

8:19 AI x Blockchain Operating Systems

14:40 Will Humans & AIs Use the Same Systems?

18:20 Why Are AI Agents Still Useless?

28:54 AI Agent Privacy Concerns

35:30 IronClaw Privacy

39:21 AI Agent Limitations

47:00 Context Constraints

53:42 Will Small Teams Win?

57:16 Autonomous Agents & Businesses

1:01:00 Digital Life Forms?

1:02:42 e/acc Vs d/acc

1:09:44 Why isn’t AI Crypto-Pilled

1:14:31 Advice for Builders

1:18:30 Closing & Disclaimers

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RESOURCES

Illia

https://x.com/ilblackdragon 

IronClaw

https://agent.near.ai/

NEAR
https://www.near.org/

Attention is All You Need

https://arxiv.org/html/1706.03762v7 

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https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Quantum used to be crypto’s distant sci-fi problem. Justin Drake says it now has a clock. In this episode, we unpack what “Q-Day” actually means, why Justin thinks 2032 is the date the entire industry should be planning around, and why Ethereum is targeting 2029 to get post-quantum ready.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 When is Q-Day?
5:35 The moment quantum becomes crypto-relevant
10:11 How many qubits does it take to break crypto?
16:22 What a real Bitcoin quantum attack would look like
20:19 How much Bitcoin is actually vulnerable?
26:26 Burn, freeze, or salvage? Bitcoin’s impossible choice
35:06 Proof of seed phrase and Bitcoin’s post-quantum bottleneck
41:02 Ethereum’s exposure: smaller, but not zero
45:43 Ethereum’s tougher roadmap: three layers, three upgrades
50:29 The execution-layer plan: replace ECDSA without killing throughput
57:56 Post-quantum, post-AI cryptography
1:03:36 BLS, KZG, LeanVM, and the rest of the stack
1:06:42 Is this bigger than the Merge?
1:17:21 If Bitcoin stumbles, does all crypto stumble too?
1:19:35 “Quantum is not a challenge—it’s an opportunity”
1:21:27 AI, quantum, crypto and the 2032 convergence
1:28:04 Harvest now, decrypt later
1:30:09 Defensive accelerationism and Ethereum’s role
1:39:10 Stoicism, P-doom, and why he keeps building

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RESOURCES

Justin Drake
https://x.com/drakefjustin/

Bitcoin Quantum Risk List
https://www.projecteleven.com/bitcoin-risq-list

Nic Carter Blog Posts
https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/bitcoin-developers-are-sleepwalking
https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/trillion-dollar-salvage
https://murmurationstwo.substack.com/p/bitcoin-developers-are-mostly-not

The Strawmap
https://strawmap.org/

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Ryan and David break down a historic week for crypto as the SEC and CFTC finally deliver long-awaited clarity, classifying major tokens and reshaping the market. At the same time, Bitcoin is outperforming stocks and gold amid global tensions, raising the key question: is this a real regime shift or just a relief rally? They also cover the rise of prediction markets, the emerging battle for agentic payments (Tempo vs. Stripe/Coinbase), and crypto’s cultural moment with Vanity Fair and the upcoming SBF Netflix series.

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📣FIGURE | CRYPTO-BACKED LOANS & ~9% RWA YIELD

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🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT

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🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS

https://thedefireport.io/bankless

🐇MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAIN

https://bankless.cc/megaeth

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TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES

0:00 Intro

3:47 Macro & Markets (Oil, War, Fed)

https://apnews.com/article/iran-gas-field-south-pars-attack-5ad45090d3b66444467cc255ee966a37

https://energynow.com/2025/06/what-is-the-strait-of-hormuz-and-why-is-it-so-important-for-oil

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116253388303392718

https://polymarket.com/event/how-many-fed-rate-cuts-in-2026/?via=bankless?

https://x.com/QuintenFrancois/status/2033469474511429805

https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2033322952238723486

https://x.com/zerohedge/status/2032571409273167950

https://x.com/timevalueofbtc/status/2034612806386086296

https://x.com/fintechfrank/status/2033520517009846618

https://farside.co.uk/btc/

https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2034403519609057593

https://x.com/intocryptoverse/status/2033954843048485174

https://thedefireport.io/research/saylor-is-back-in-the-market

22:35 SEC + CFTC Regulatory Clarity

https://x.com/SECGov/status/2033996940363317379

https://x.com/SECPaulSAtkins/status/2034012012460556526 

https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/interp/2026/33-11412.pdf

https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/atkins-remarks-regulation-crypto-assets-031726

https://x.com/Dogetoshi/status/2034011111008178657

https://x.com/BChillman/status/2033913119756714298

https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/2034003107391172946

https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/2034450575773884694

https://x.com/tradexyz/status/2034260987197444255

https://x.com/jchervinsky/status/2034269594282500329

44:44 Prediction Markets Expansion + Risks

https://dune.com/hildobby/polymarket

https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2034272538465841410

https://x.com/manniefabian/status/2033505062031344004

https://x.com/clashreport/status/2033513701735551202

https://polymarket.com/event/iran-military-action-against-israel-on/?via=bankless?

https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2033635318662860916

https://x.com/ChairmanSelig/status/2034625252831998397

52:16 Agentic Payments & Tempo (Standards War)

https://x.com/Quicknode/status/2034261280354394610

https://x.com/tempo/status/2034253707303338264

https://x.com/clairekart/status/2034279348480737719

https://visacli.sh/

https://x.com/worldnetwork/status/2033923684768092436

https://x.com/CoinDesk/status/2033883474755551595

58:39 Onchain Banking & Ethereum Upgrades

https://x.com/zksync/status/2033864749016809582

https://fastconfirm.it/

https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/2033661196792967254

https://x.com/_julianma/status/2033851796574154808

https://x.com/adietrichs/status/2033863884067475634

1:02:38 Crypto Culture (Vanity Fair + SBF Netflix)

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/cryptos-true-believers

https://x.com/CamiRusso/status/2033946061685850353

https://x.com/DennisonBertram/status/2034013980771877353

https://x.com/netflix/status/2033981949740568829

1:08:31 Closing & Disclaimers

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

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Tempo Mainnet is live, but this episode isn’t really about just another chain launch. It’s about a bigger claim: that AI agents are about to need native money, and that the internet may need a new payment layer to support them. Georgios Konstantopoulos and Brendan Ryan join Bankless to unpack why Tempo launched with agentic payments front and center, what MPP actually is, how it compares to x402, and why they think machine-to-machine commerce could reshape everything from paid APIs to the business model of the web itself.

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---
TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Tempo Mainnet goes live
1:18 Why the launch is focused on agents
3:58 What MPP actually is
6:30 MPP vs x402
15:28 Why agentic commerce matters
20:08 The “original sin” of the internet
26:04 MCP, NLWeb, and the emerging agent stack
34:07 The onboarding flow: wallets for agents
37:11 How Tempo’s wallet security works
40:11 Tempo chain design and specs
51:13 Why build an L1 instead of an Ethereum L2?
56:10 The Ethereum tension
1:05:01 Agent identity, reputation, and ERC-8004
1:06:53 TIP20, stablecoins, and what can be built on Tempo
1:12:36 Builder opportunity in the agentic web

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RESOURCES

Georgios Konstantopoulos
https://x.com/gakonst

Brendan Ryan
https://brendanjryan.com

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
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A deep dive into Trump’s emerging grand strategy and the geopolitical logic behind the Iran conflict. 

Kamran Bokhari joins Bankless to unpack how the U.S. is trying to reshape the Middle East, manage tensions with China and Russia, and transition from direct intervention toward a new model of burden-sharing, regional power balancing, and global restraint.

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🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDT

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🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Intro

0:56 Iran War Unstated Motives

10:03 Trump’s Goals

18:43 China’s Role

26:43 Venezuela & Cuba

28:22 US China Relationship

34:27 Optimizing Global Relationships

39:56 Iran War Best Approach

47:12 Does Iran Want to Negotiate?

51:30 Iran Regime Change

56:51 Israel Interests

1:00:36 Marco Rubio

1:05:24 Signal in the Noise

1:07:25 Closing & Disclaimers

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RESOURCES

Kamran Bokhari on X
https://x.com/KamranBokhari 

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamranbokhari/ 

New Lines Institute

https://newlinesinstitute.org/people/kamran-bokhari/ 

Forbes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kamranbokhari/ 

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Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:

https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠