The community & ideas drew me to the industry. It attracts interesting ppl and sits at the intersection of game theory, networks, internet culture, finance, etc. The dinner was proof. Some fun debates. Thx @pbanhardt from @blueyard for co-hosting.

Ppl are saying that >50% of all internet traffic comes from agents. If this repeats on blockchains and the dominant users are agents, who will benefit economically? The old blockchain value capture theses may no longer hold. I’ll lay out a new AI thesis at 3PM @JoinFutura.

Those of us who have been around tech long enough recognize this pattern: When the internet was first commercialized, the largest companies resisted putting their businesses online because they did not want their data on the public internet. So they built proprietary extranets, closed and permissioned networks that used TCP/IP but only allowed certain companies in. But open networks beat closed ones. Every one of those extranets died, and now every business runs on the open internet. The same thing is happening in banking right now. JPMorgan, Citi and Wells Fargo can see that blockchains are superior (faster, cheaper, global) but they want to control them. So they are launching their own private, permissioned networks. Sound familiar? This too will fail. Interoperability and global reach always beat control. The banks will spend years and billions trying to keep their closed networks competitive with open ones, and they will lose that race. The web3 startups building new payment, banking and financial services companies onchain should be thrilled about this. Every year the banks continue this doomed strategy is another year of head start for the people building on open rails.

SCOOP: @Stripe, @Visa and @Mastercard are close to launching a joint stablecoin platform. @IanAllison123 reports.

Meet the Mentors Guiding InkWorks Cohort 00 🧑‍🏫 Building the future of tokenized finance takes more than capital. @inkonchain mentors bring expertise across infrastructure, product, growth, distribution, investing, and education - helping founders turn promising projects into products that users actually adopt. 👇 ▫️ @anticustody — Deep expertise in programmable payments, USDC settlement, and real-world financial infrastructure, head of growth for @KYDLabs & @tixprotocol ▫️ @MarcinRedStone —Co-Founder @redstone_defi | Oracle & data infrastructure leader powering billions in secured onchain value ▫️ @GSkrovina — Head of Fintech Crypto @Lazer_HQ | Product execution specialist with experience shipping 250 fintech and crypto products ▫️ @arlery — CMO @OctantApp | Growth, grants, ecosystem strategy, and crypto media expertise ▫️ @emilylai — Head of Marketing @Ostium, advisor for @hypepartners | Proven DeFi GTM operator helping teams find product-market fit and scale distribution ▫️ @anay_sim — Investor @bcap | Investor perspective on consumer crypto, market positioning, and venture readiness ▫️ @wminshew — Founder @0xSplits | Builder of onchain revenue and financial infrastructure primitives ▫️ @claudedonze — Consumer Crypto @greenfield_cap | Consumer crypto investor helping founders sharpen product and growth strategies ▫️ @ProofOfEly — Educator focused on making complex onchain products understandable to mainstream users And shout out Ink core team to help these projects thrive 🗣️ Cohort 00 is live → ink.works

10 rwa project with the most fees collected in May @CantonNetwork - $65M @Collector_Crypt - $7.84M @Courtyard_io - $6.73M @Securitize - $5.85M ⭐️ @centrifuge - $4.8M @phygitals - $2.93M @WisdomTreeFunds - $3M @InvescoUS USTB - $2.51M @onrefinance - $1.66M ⭐️ Re - $1.17M

i predict we’ll see 10,000 neobanks launch over the next decade, each built for a very specific type of customer. i’m already seeing neobanks focused only on: → dental clinics → watch dealers in dubai → specific immigrant communities → creators → truckers → ecommerce brands finance is becoming increasingly verticalized. the days of building one bank for everyone are slowly coming to an end. they’ll be tailored specifically to a certain customer demographic and their specific problems.

Thirty Seconds to Mars has already reserved human-only tickets for their 2027 tour. Concert Kit is open to any artist who wants to reserve their tickets for real, verified fans. Learn more: music.world.org

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