The Breakdown

Latest Episodes:

The Messy State of Crypto Governance with Jito Foundation's Nick Almond | The Breakdown May 18, 2026

Show notes

Nick Almond of the Jito Foundation joins David to walk through why DAO governance is a mess, what “pragmatic decentralization” looks like in practice, and how the CLARITY Act will reshape governance going forward. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(01:22) Why Governance Matters

(03:43) Token Voting

(05:12) Delegates and Multisigs

(08:56) Nexo Ad

(09:30) Sub-DAOs and Specialization

(11:33) Governance Tokens Origins

(15:47) Pragmatic Decentralization

(18:22) Cosmetic Votes and Value

(20:37) Nexo Ad

(21:35) Arbitrum Governance

(25:59) Regulation and CLARITY

(29:11) Bitcoin Governance Lessons

(34:03) Meta Governance and Agility

(36:48) Tokens as Equity Future

(39:41) Closing Thoughts

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

› Nick Almond — https://x.com/DrNickA

› Jito Foundation — https://x.com/jito_sol

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/breakdown

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

The $70B AI IPO, Claude Cracks a Lost Wallet, and CLARITY Advances | The Breakdown May 15, 2026

Show notes

Hyperliquid enabled early exposure to the biggest AI IPO of the year. Claude helped recover a Bitcoin wallet locked for 11 years. And CLARITY made it through markup. David runs through all three. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro

01:05 Cerebras

12:42 Claude Rescues Wallet

19:17 CLARITY Markup Update

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

Bhutan Times the Top, CLARITY Hits Markup, and the Onchain Pokemon Card Boom | The Breakdown May 13, 2026

Show notes

Bhutan timed the Bitcoin top almost perfectly. The CLARITY Act may only let 10–20 chains qualify as “decentralized.” And onchain Pokémon cards are popping off. David runs through all three.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(01:31) Bhutan Sells

(06:37) Nexo Ad

(07:12) Bhutan Sells (Cont.)

(14:39) CLARITY Markup

(15:40) Nexo Ad

(16:31) CLARITY Markup (Cont.)

(25:30) Onchain Pokemon Card Boom

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

Bored Apes Rally, Canton Raises at $2B and Saylor Raps the Bears | The Breakdown May 11, 2026

Show notes

David covers three Monday stories: the NFT mini-revival (Bored Apes doubled in a month), Canton raising $300M at a $2B valuation, and Saylor's AI rap video defending Strategy from “Ponzi” accusations. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(01:15) Are NFTs Back?

(07:24) Nexo Ad

(07:59) Are NFTs Back? (Cont.)

(12:06) Canton

(16:52) Nexo Ad

(17:46) Canton (Cont.)

(23:27) Strategy Rap

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

Coinbase Down Again, HIP-4 vs Polymarket, and Dueling Big Tech Crypto Partnerships | The Breakdown May 08, 2026

Show notes

David covers three Friday stories: Coinbase's hours-long outage on the back of an AWS cooling failure, the data on whether prediction markets are actually beating memecoins, and the dueling Solana + Google Cloud / AWS + Coinbase + Stripe agentic commerce announcements.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(01:23) Coinbase AWS Outage

(07:20) Nexo Ad

(07:55) Prediction Markets, Memecoins, and HIP-4

(15:58) Nexo Ad

(16:51) Prediction Markets, Memecoins, and HIP-4 (Cont.)

(19:15) Agentic Commerce Meta

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

Coinbase's AI Layoffs, a16z's $2.2B Fund, and Strategy's $12.5B Loss | The Breakdown May 06, 2026

Show notes

David covers three Wednesday stories: Coinbase laying off 14% of staff, a16z Crypto raising $2.2 billion, and Strategy losing $12.5 billion as CEO Phong Le floats selling bitcoin.

We also unpack the AI-first layoff narrative, the potential return of the infra supercycle ($6B+ raised across crypto VCs in 2026), and why a Cambrian explosion of DATs and ETFs might absorb whatever Saylor has to offload. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(01:17) Coinbase Layoffs

(07:15) Nexo Ad

(07:50) Coinbase Layoffs (Cont.)

(10:30) a16z Crypto Fund 5

(15:17) Nexo Ad

(16:09) a16z Crypto Fund 5 (Cont.)

(22:30) Strategy Losses

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

Clavicular x Polymarket, the CLARITY Act, and What MegaETH Tells Us About Retail | The Breakdown May 04, 2026

Show notes

David runs through three Monday morning stories: the viral Clavicular clip with Polymarket’s CMO, the CLARITY Act’s compromise on stablecoin yield, and MegaETH’s adoption numbers a week into its points campaign.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(01:06) Clavicular and Polymarket CMO

(09:20) Nexo Ad

(09:57) CLARITY Act Update

(15:03) Nexo Ad

(15:54) MegaETH Performance

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

MegaETH, the DeFi United Bailout, Meta’s USDC Push, and Blockworks Reaches $192M Valuation | The Breakdown Apr 30, 2026

Show notes

DeFi just raised $302 million to cover losses from the Kelp DAO hack. David calls it what it is: a bailout.

David runs through four stories from the week — MegaETH, DeFi United, Meta’s stablecoin payouts, and the Blockworks rebrand.

We unpack why MegaETH’s points campaign is the 2021 playbook in 2026, why stablecoin income doesn’t equal crypto adoption, and what happens when the house money runs out. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:14 MegaETH)

(13:34 Nexo Ad)

(14:11 DeFi United)

(21:20 Nexo Ad)

(22:12 Meta Stablecoins)

(30:14 Blockworks Valuation)

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

How Crypto Is Fighting Back Against North Korea | The Breakdown Apr 28, 2026

Show notes

North Korea has had IT workers embedded in DeFi protocols since DeFi Summer — and they’re pretty good devs.

Nick Bax, blockchain investigator and SEAL 911 incident responder, joins us to break down how crypto crime has evolved from SIM swaps to nation-state social engineering.

We unpack the Monero inflation bug, Arbitrum’s 9/12 multisig gold standard, how DPRK workers now use facilitators to rent real identities, and what it actually takes to break into onchain investigation. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:01) DeFi is Under Attack

(03:11) Contagion Onchain

(04:40) Nexo Ad

(05:16) Nick Bax Interview

(06:40) Incident Response Triage

(08:43) Preemptive Due Diligence

(10:20) From SIM Swaps To Remote Access

(13:45) Multisig Best Practices

(14:37) AI Speeds Up Attacks

(15:36) Nexo Ad

(17:14) Decentralization Tradeoffs

(19:17) Monero Bug Hard Fork

(20:05) Trusting Multisig Guardians

(21:05) Two Of Five Risks

(22:00) DeFi Decentralization Debate

(23:41) Proactive Threat Hunting

(25:25) DPRK Worker Red Flags

(27:32) Security Teams And Intel

(30:21) Thorchain And Laundering

(33:26) Whack A Mole Reality

(35:31) Becoming Onchain Investigator

(37:06) Closing Thoughts

FOLLOW GUEST

› Nick Bax — https://x.com/bax1337

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

Mythos Leaks, Crypto in the Strait of Hormuz, and DoorDash Stablecoins | The Breakdown Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

Someone guessed Anthropic’s Mythos URL, gained unauthorized access to the most hyped AI model in history, and used it to build websites.

David covers three stories from the week: the Mythos breach, a Tether scam in the Strait of Hormuz, and DoorDash’s stablecoin announcement.

We unpack why Project Glasswing looks like marketing by association, how scammers are demanding Bitcoin and Tether for Hormuz transit, and whether DoorDash + Tempo passes David’s three-prong crypto test. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:08) Unauthorized Mythos Access

(08:16) Nexo Ad

(08:51) Hormuz Scam Messages

(13:12) Nexo Ad

(14:04) DoorDash Stablecoin Payments

(22:48) Korean Wolf Memecoin

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› David — https://x.com/dcanellis

› The Breakdown — https://x.com/TheBreakdownBW

SPONSORS

› NEXO

Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to the Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/

DISCLAIMER

As always, remember this podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely their opinions, not financial advice.

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