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Will Druck Kick Off The Next Phase of Crypto's Bull Market?

Oct 30, 2026

0:00-58:17 / 58:17
 

About this episode

Druckenmiller is bullposting TradeXYZ and you're bearish? This week, we break down the TradFi incumbents suddenly leaning into crypto rails and what it means for the startups that built them. We explore Druck's viral X post, ICE bringing Hyperliquid perps to the US, Google Cloud's new crypto custody play, Y Combinator's crypto wishlist, and whether AI favors incumbents over startups. Enjoy! TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 Chicken Hats and Bull Markets 02:15 Google's 12% Earnings Drop 02:33 Druckenmiller Bets on Trade XYZ 15:59 Fidelity 16:34 DAS London 17:12 Google Cloud Enters Custody 22:01 Inside Dragonfly's Partner Shakeup 26:12 Fidelity 26:53 DAS London 27:28 Inside Dragonfly's Partner Shakeup (cont.) 28:25 YC's Crypto Startup Wishlist 32:49 The Four Stages of a Bull Market 39:15 DeFi Primitives Beyond Perps 42:42 AI Bubble or Incumbents' Game? 50:26 ICE's Sprecher on Hyperliquid 51:44 Midterms and Crypto Politics 56:26 Content of the Week FOLLOW THE SHOW › Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod › Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz › Santi – https://x.com/santiagoroel › Haseeb – https://x.com/hosseeb › Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh › Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks SPONSORS › Fidelity Crypto was built in-house. with over adozen years of crypto experience. So you can trade crypto and stocks in one place at Fidelity, backed by industry-leading security. Fidelity Crypto. We're here to help you feel good about investing in crypto. Crypto is offered by Fidelity Digital Assets, NA, is not insured by FDIC or SIPC and includes risk of significant loss. Securities offered by Fidelity Brokerage Services,LLC. Member NYSE, SIPC. http://fidelity.com/crypto EVENTS › Join us at Digital Asset Summit London Nov 10-11 https://blockworks.com/events RESOURCES › Learn more about Blockworks Agentic Detection: https://blockworks.com/insights/introducing-agentic-detection-asset-monitoring-built-for-the-ai-era › Start building with the Blockworks Unified API https://blockworks.com/insights/introducing-the-blockworks-unified-api DISCLAIMER Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.