Crypto infrastructure, argued in detail.
Empire treats crypto less like a casino and more like a rewiring of financial plumbing. Its conversations move through stablecoins, DeFi risk, custody, tokenized assets, cybersecurity, and founder strategy with an insider’s patience for mechanism.
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Empire covers crypto from the side of the room where founders, investors, and financial operators are trying to make the machinery work. The show’s recurring concern is not whether crypto is exciting, but where it is actually better than existing systems. Stablecoins sit near the center. Episodes return to faster settlement, global distribution, money movement, reserve models, and the ways legacy financial companies might use blockchain rails without turning every product into a token. DeFi gets similar treatment. The discussion is technical and often skeptical, especially around lending markets, borrower liquidations, low yields, and whether protocols are balanced enough to attract durable capital. That patience for mechanism is the show’s best quality. Empire is comfortable spending time on the difference between a safer lender and a brutal borrower experience, or on why a large payments company might treat stablecoins as one piece of a much broader strategy. It also follows the business of crypto closely. Paxos, Copper, Braun, BlackRock, Western Union, and DAS appear not as name drops, but as examples of custody, tokenization, infrastructure, and market access becoming more institutional. The show has a dry house style. Weekly roundups can wander into banter, live-podcast self-deprecation, market gloom, and cautious optimism, yet the conversation usually returns to incentives, cash flow, risk, and execution. It is also attentive to security. The Drift exploit and related discussion of endpoint detection, time locks, and organizational hygiene frame crypto as an industry where operational mistakes can become very expensive very quickly. Empire is not a beginner’s primer. It assumes listeners can follow stablecoins, DeFi yields, tokenized assets, market structure, cybersecurity, venture capital, and macro without much handholding. That makes the show dense, sometimes uneven, and often more useful than polished. For crypto-curious generalists, it may feel like walking into a conversation already in progress. For operators, investors, and technically fluent listeners, that is the appeal. Empire offers a running record of crypto growing up: still speculative, still messy, but increasingly judged by distribution, regulation, security, and real financial utility.
Made for: Empire is for crypto-native investors, founders, builders, and fintech observers who want serious discussion of stablecoins, DeFi, custody, tokenization, and market structure. It assumes comfort with technical finance vocabulary.
What sets it apart: The show stands apart by treating crypto as financial infrastructure rather than a price chart. Its best episodes pair insider access with skeptical attention to mechanisms, incentives, and operational risk.
Empire features interviews with top crypto founders to get the real stories that aren’t shared elsewhere. Empire is your look behind the curtain of the crypto industry. We release two episodes per week: guest interviews on Monday and a weekly roundup on Friday.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Empire tests crypto's biggest business claims against the mechanics of products, incentives, risk, and financial infrastructure.
Empire treats crypto as a collection of businesses, financial rails, and governance problems whose mechanics deserve scrutiny. Founder interviews sit alongside conversational roundups, with stablecoins recurring as both infrastructure and commercial opportunity.
Empire is where stablecoin rails meet token politics, with enough plumbing to test your crypto optimism.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sober DeFi conversation about where crypto works, where it does not, and why borrower risk still matters.
Empire frames the discussion around a plain but useful question: where crypto is actually better, and where it simply does not need to replace existing rails.
Crypto optimism lands best here when it stays tied to cash flow and hard security habits.
Empire makes a solid case for optimism in crypto, but only when it is tied to a real business and, ideally, one that brings in cash. The practical advice follows that logic: assume a breach will happen, then plan for it with multi-sig, time locks, endpoint detection and…
A dry market debate that turns market moves into structure.
The episode is a measured market roundtable. It starts with Kevin Kelly announcing the show's move off the BlockWorks Empire feed, then moves through the active-versus-passive split, the under-the-hood action in the S&P, and where value may still be sitting in AI chips,…
A case for Paxos as financial-system infrastructure, not just a token trade.
It frames Paxos as a wager on replatforming the financial system, using the $900 trillion asset figure to give that ambition real scale. The BankChain thread helps ground the private-chain idea in an early institutional experiment, with traditional firms meant to hold assets…
A steady L1 valuation discussion that keeps the real question centered on network value.
Empire spends this stretch on a familiar crypto finance problem: how to think about L1 value without flattening it into a revenue multiple. The hosts separate mechanism from distribution and keep the discussion grounded in concrete examples, from Polymarket opening a bar in D.C.
A clear look at when a crypto token is structure, and when it is just packaging.
The discussion keeps circling a clean question: when does a crypto token do real work, and when is it mostly packaging. It is at its best when it separates the L1, L2, and infrastructure layer from the application layer, then asks what the token is for, how it should serve that…
Stablecoin plumbing and mechanics-first debate.
It stays on the stablecoin story, using Meta and Facebook re-entering the space, the Luna and Jane Street drama, and Tether investing in WAP to keep the focus on where the market is actually looking.
Stablecoins as plumbing, not spectacle.
This episode treats stablecoins as financial plumbing, and that framing lands. Charles from Rain argues that the bigger opportunity is not a sleeker fintech interface, but a way to modernize how money moves across borders and through the stack.
Host Jack Rhysider narrates true hacking, breach, and privacy stories from the people involved.
David Pierce and Verge staffers cover AI industry news, gadgets, and tech policy weekly.
Long-form interviews on AI coding agents, infrastructure, and security, plus a recurring SED News roundup.
Founders and engineers on AI coding agents like Claude Code, and supply chain security.
David Sparks and Stephen Robles dig into Keyboard Maestro, Shortcuts, and Mac automation weekly.
DeFi wins where banks drag their feet.
Optimism is still the spine.
Kevin Kelly opens as first-time host for The Hive Mind, announces the show is leaving the BlockWorks Empire channel, and says future episodes will live on Delphi Digital YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcast feeds.
Paxos starts with a huge TAM, but the pitch is not just crypto hype.
Samara Cohen discusses the impact of blockchain and AI on global market structure, emphasizing how decisions in the next 6-12 months will shape capital markets for decades.
The CEO of Western Union explains why the company is focusing on stablecoins as part of its strategy to leverage its existing global financial infrastructure and customer base.
A discussion on the changing landscape of crypto venture capital, where easy profits have given way to consolidation among top funds.
Host interviews crypto founder Dimitri Tokarev about his journey from Copper to Braun and the evolution of the crypto industry.
Hosts discuss takeaways from a crypto conference, noting the absence of OG builders and comparing the current atmosphere to early Bitcoin days.
A roundtable discussion on crypto markets, recent AI trip to China, and Bitcoin price movements.
BlockWorks launches a new investor relations platform for crypto businesses, emphasizing transparency and data-driven storytelling.
Empire opens on Polymarket's D.C.
Token design gets a hard look.
Interview with crypto founders discussing decentralized perpetuals and DeFi's future.
This weekly roundup episode discusses the state of the crypto market, Polymarket insider trading, a16z raising $2B, and touches on longevity research with David Sinclair.
The hosts discuss the current cryptocurrency market, focusing on Bitcoin's price at $73K, its resilience amid stock market volatility and geopolitical events, and the performance of altcoins.
A podcast analyzing the institutional adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology in finance.
This episode features a discussion with Tushar Jain and Pranav Kanade on building the perfect portfolio in 2026, covering market opportunities, macro trends, crypto, and AI.
Stablecoins drive the week.
An interview with the founders of Layer Xero discussing their new blockchain platform Xero and its unified stack.
This episode discusses Dragonfly's successful $650 million fundraising round, exploring the dynamics of venture capital in the crypto space and market conditions.
A panel of experts from Delphi Digital discusses current crypto market conditions, including price levels, market sentiment, and strategies for navigating volatility and potential opportunities.
A panel discussion on the move of capital markets on-chain, featuring investors and industry experts.
An interview with the founders of MegaEth about their Layer 2 blockchain and the crypto ecosystem.
An interview with a repeat guest discussing crypto regulation and market conditions.
Stablecoins are still early here, but Charles Younaut treats them as payment plumbing, not crypto gloss.
Hosts discuss the current crypto market downturn with Josh from FalconX, analyzing price action and institutional flow.
A roundtable discussion on current crypto market conditions, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and Hyperliquid prices, with bearish sentiment.
An interview episode exploring the current state and future potential of stablecoins in the crypto industry.
Interview with Yellowcard CEO discussing crypto adoption in emerging markets, focusing on modernizing mobile money systems like M-Pesa.
Interview with Vlad Novakovsky, founder of Lighter, discussing decentralized exchanges and his background in high-frequency trading.
Hosts discuss the blurring line between chatbots and coding, then interview Chao from Alliance about crypto industry insights.
A podcast episode discussing recent crypto market movements and insights from Delphi Digital analysts.
A panel discussion on the state of crypto, featuring a guest who wrote a viral article titled 'Crypto is Dead'.
Raoul Pal discusses the macro liquidity crisis affecting crypto and tech markets, advocating for a balanced portfolio.