Ep 4: Crypto Summit Insights, Macro Markets, & Bitcoin Outlook
The summit is still to come, and I'll be upfront—markets look uncertain. BTC hovering around $89K, down slightly after touching $91K. Big moves are brewing, and here's what I'm seeing:
Most people don't know this, but Salvador Dalí built his entire career on tapping into his unconscious mind on purpose.
Dalí's most famous trick was a micro-nap he called "slumber with a key." He'd sit in a heavy Spanish-style armchair, head tilted back against the leather, both arms hanging completely limp off the armrests, and in his left hand he'd hold a heavy metal key pinched lightly between his thumb and forefinger.
Directly under that hand, on the floor, he'd place an upside-down plate. He'd then let himself drift into sleep. The instant he actually fell asleep, his muscles would go slack, the key would slip out of his fingers, hit the upside-down plate, and the clang would jolt him awake.
The whole nap was meant to last less than a quarter of a second. He called that half-second window the "taut and invisible wire which separates sleeping from waking," and he'd immediately sketch the hallucinations he saw in that flash.
The melting clocks, the elephants on stilts, the burning giraffes, a lot of that came straight out of those quarter-second naps. He picked the trick up from Capuchin monks and wrote it down as one of his "50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship."
Coming back from the dead is arguably one of if not the very best masculine experiences for confidence
I have spoken to some very high level operators who have been destroyed and zero'd out in their mid thirties by bankruptcy, divorce getting ugly and a multitude of other things and those individuals who eat those shots and came back to the arena swinging and rebuilt themselves from basically nothing; everyone of those motherfuckers has that untouchable it factor swagger and its so potent
Those moments where you're down and out, took a risk which was 95% of NW; got clipped and now you barely have money for rent without hopping on uber for 30 hours a week for the next 4 weeks, or maybe you even go into heavy debt and get clipped
Those are the moments that forge the spirit and make the man in complete totality, if a man can connect to his vision for himself and revive from those angles from the dead he will know a strength and a power like no other
Fear is such a neurotic mistress, its so easy to be consumed by fear when everything is going perfectly and it can paralyse you even when things are great, but then once you get destroyed into the dirt and all your nightmares are at the door, all of them have transformed and become real now it is strangely at this very point when they have no power over you, the point where you're in the most danger you care the very least as you have gained strength from engaging and welcoming your shadows, once you welcome something and you are truly not bothered by it; you swallow its soul and it animates you into correct posture and life force and you can utilise that as an additional limb of some sort
It's never getting decimated that really deconstructs men, you will always live in a glass house afraid of the wind when you have never realised you can survive the coldest nights and its genuinely that realisation that is the foundation of becoming and growing beyond who you actually are
Unless you fail truly at some point, you will never develop the courage to be who you truly could be, as the protection of your little ego will prevent you from truly taking on the almighty behemoth challenges
Failing brutally atleast once destroys your ego and liberates you, it almost acts as an additional health bar
Always the dudes who have done the least who are the most stressed and the men who are the most calm who have been in the war the longest
Otherwise you will live to protect your illusions forever
not just hyperliquid.
over 20 protocols have:
1) revenue that accrues to tokenholders
2) yoy revenue growth
3) either high holders rev in absolute terms or relative to mcap
One of my fav Jeff Bezos quotes:
"Stress does not come from hardwork. Stress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over."
The main main 3 things I’ve learned from roundtripping 8 figs in my early twenties:
1: The people you hang around (also online) will shape your worldview and actions more than you probably realize.
Jealousy from others will infect you. Greediness from others will infect you. Any bad habit from people that you allow in your circle will leak over to you and will be able to shape your worldview and kill your progress if you are not careful. Be very intentional with who you are in contact with or get close to at all times…
1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.”
Especially when things are going well people will show their true nature.
The vast majority of people you are with (if you are not extremely intentional with curating your circle) are either competing with you or trying to use you. It is not worth trying to impress people you didn’t carefully choose to be in your life. If you feel like you need to impress people in general there’s a lot of inner work to do, which leads to point 2…
2: Be grateful no matter what and rely on principles.
Abundance and lack, I’ve experienced them both. And I can say goodness isn’t just found on the side of abundance. There’s many people that have an ideal worldview or dream they worship above anything. That vision is NOTHING is you don’t build on principles. Your character, integrity and authenticity are worth infinitely more than any perceived value that a fantasy or (realized) dream can hold. There are extremely broke(n) people that only possess money and nothing else…
The more money you make, the more your character is enhanced. So if you’re a complete idiot before you make money, if you see money that is only enhanced. It works the same if you have shaped yourself to be excellent. In that case money will only enlarge your excellence… Self reflect at all times and know what you stand for. Focus on the things that matter if money didn’t exist… Money follows principles, it will allow you to KEEP money after making it instead of losing it simply because of lack of inner work.
3: Take accountability and accept grace
Whether you’re doing well in life or not, know that the majority of the things that happen in your life are strictly related to how you perceive life, and how you act based upon that. Whether your worldview is shaped by trauma, losses, your upbringing, previous generations or anything else… You are the one responsible for your life. Taking accountability is the first step to healing from big missteps/mistakes.
Without accountability there’s merely avoidance….
Living your life avoidantly is one of the worst ways to operate as a human being. You HAVE to be present/conscious in order to live a decent/good life, any type of fleeing from reality or responsibilities is a waste of your years and will keep you small/stuck. After rawdogging the pain that comes with great losses/mistakes and accepting it, you can start to heal.
After acceptance comes RECEIVING grace. Grace is available to anyone that ALLOWS themselves to make use of it. There are people living in bondage for most of their lives because they are unable to accept grace that is freely available to them. Whether it sounds cliché or not, accepting that you make mistakes and that is okay as long as you learn from it allows you to move on from anything eventually. You are not God Himself, so don’t hold such a high standard no matter how your previous experiences in life shaped you. Many of the beautiful things in life are not found in a luxurious/lavish lifestyle or proving people wrong… They are found in peace and dignity. Not a single outward factor is able to replace this inner work that only comes from true acceleration by authentically choosing to do what is right. Materialism or comparison is simply not worth stressing over. Money and wealth will flow to people that don’t put worthless things on a pedestal.
Hope this helped you
Feel free to mediate on this
~Aboc
Had a wealthy friend tell me that the ability to decrease time to any outcome is the one skill behind every successful person he knows.
A few I apply constantly:
- Decreasing the time it takes you to get out of a bad state will make you emotionally resilient
- Decreasing the time it takes you to go from idea to executive will make you wealthy
- Decreasing the time it takes you to turn a failure into a lesson will thicken your skin faster than anything else
People don't understand how big this will be.
Let me give a real example to illustrate:
@ethena on @kamino
► Up over $420M in an isolated market in a day.
► Ethena has $700M USDG that they get ~4.2% on because of Paxos kickbacks from the yield on the paper that underlies USDG
► They then lend on Kamino and Jupiter
► This makes +1.78% on lending.
So about 6% net on their USDG
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE:
Ethena is happy to do this because it means easy TVL growth because borrowers only pay 2%.
I.E., Institutional lender receives 6% to lend. Borrowers pay 2% to borrow.
This has never, AFAIK, been a workable / sustainable model. It's only really possible with this unique set up.
To recap:
► Ethena gets massive TVL growth and decent 6% yield on 700M
► USDG gets more retail adoption and solidifies its place as a dominant defi stablecoin
► Retail loopers get a 20% yield with deep liquidity and predictable lending rate
Win / Win / Win
The life you desire and if you get it for free, accidentally. the very life you once desired will become your greatest nightmare. You won't be able to handle it wisely. It will torture you.
And the clearest sign that something came to you by accident is the terror of losing it. You become consumed with protecting it, because deep down, you know it was never truly yours.
But when something is earned through worth and becoming, you grow larger than the thing itself. Fear disappears, because you understand the path that created it, and you know you can walk that path again and again.
Things are temporary. Becoming is permanent. Don't try to avoid the process. The struggle teaches you how to stay at the top. Reaching at the top is a whole different thing. Many reach the top, but only a few get to stay there.
I know that some of you who are 20-year-old retards think that this is funny but i once knew a guy like that.
He killed himself at 31.
Life is not easy for a useless man.
Lock in. You're not a kid anymore.
A degen in touch with crypto/finance subculture, but still competent, responsible, and capable of pitching to a boardroom/exec team is the most sought after hire rn.
Everyone is looking for one, but there’s like 37 total in existence and they’re all very happy where they are
The longer I invest in crypto, the more I realize this industry is mostly a founder filtering machine
(a lot more challenging than in Trad VC/PE)
After 50+ investments + years of advising founders, I'm starting to see the patterns. The patterns that separate founders that bring return vs founders that don't.
In today's piece, we'll go over
- My actual investment theses/outcomes from 2025–2026
- What worked, what completely failed, and why
- The founder traits that correlate with return
This is probably the most honest breakdown I’ve written so far. May add value to you as an investor or builder navigating the space in 2026.
NFA/DYOR
[Link in Bio]
the main reason people lack energy is that they never discover what gives them their energy back. you must spend hours searching for what brings you joy and makes you appreciate life. art, sports, racing, books, nature, architecture, or music... it all clicks once you find it