PodcastThe Wolf Of All StreetsRob Hadick

How To Win Crypto's Next Bull Market | Rob Hadick

The discussion presents crypto as evolving into broader financial infrastructure through stablecoins, tokenization, on-chain markets, and new paths to investment and public listings. Institutional engagement is growing, but retail participation and trust have weakened after losses and liquidation events, while competition from leveraged trading in other asset classes has reduced crypto activity. The guest expects volatility to rotate back toward crypto, greater market dispersion to reward selectivity, and broader on-chain access to support the ecosystem and crypto prices.

Crypto MarketsStablecoinsTokenizationMarket VolatilityMarket StructureInvestment Strategy

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Key Takeaways

Institutional engagement with crypto is broadening beyond Bitcoin, with the Audi Summit drawing about 330 attendees from banks, asset managers, and traditional investment companies to discuss stablecoins, tokenization, AI, and regulation. Dragonfly’s portfolio and examples such as Polymarket and Rain reflect a financial-technology thesis in which businesses can grow independently of Bitcoin’s price.

The guest sees stablecoins and tokenization potentially becoming core financial infrastructure, creating alternative paths to public markets and fractionalized access to earlier-stage investments. OpenBell, as well as projects such as Hyperliquid, Lighter, and Venice, illustrates how companies could tokenize equity or launch tokens before a conventional IPO, expanding the investable universe.

Crypto’s expanded access to early-stage tokens has offered investors earlier exposure to protocols but also created highly volatile assets attractive to traders seeking volatility. After losses tied to the Trump meme token, Terra, liquidations, and October 10, the guest says returning retail participants may be more selective, focusing on token economics, value accrual, protocol revenue, and product-market fit rather than FOMO.

The discussion links crypto’s risk-management challenge to both extreme leverage and market-structure failures: the CFTC is evaluating how to introduce perpetual swaps responsibly, while the guest attributes the October 10 event to exchange infrastructure and collateral failures that triggered cascading liquidations. The comparison of roughly 19 in liquidations on October 10 with about $1.2 billion after FTX’s collapse underscores the scale and reach of the market.

GEO-POLITICS

Clarity Act — The guest says that if the Clarity Act becomes law, tokenization could expand substantially. It could create new paths for companies to go public and provide fractionalized access to earlier-stage investments. He presents tokens becoming the sole source of value accrual as a long-term ideal, not a current reality.

“Now, obviously, we're in the situation where you know, Clarity Act is being debated…”—

TECHNOLOGY

Institutional Adoption — The Audi Summit drew about 330 attendees, including banks, asset managers, and traditional investment companies. Discussions covered stablecoins, tokenization, AI's interaction with crypto, market conditions, and the Clarity Act, signaling broader institutional engagement.

“Yeah, I mean, this summit is pretty institutional, as you can tell. So, it's been It's been pretty interesting to see…”—

Financial Technology — Dragonfly treats crypto as financial technology and has invested in infrastructure, decentralized and centralized finance, prediction markets, payments companies, and stablecoins. The guest cites Polymarket's best-ever June and Rain's strongest month in each of the previous 18 months as examples of businesses growing independently of Bitcoin's price.

“We've been for Dragonfly, we've been obviously a little bit different in the way that we thought about the space than some others…”—

Blockchain Rails — The guest believes much of finance may eventually operate on-chain, with stablecoins and tokenization becoming broad financial infrastructure rather than niche crypto applications. Under this thesis, companies such as Polymarket can be viewed as financial companies aligned with finance's direction.

“And now we've always invested in the idea that you know a lot of finance or all of finance maybe will happen on chain and so you know in some…”—

ECONOMY

Leverage Regulation — The CFTC is trying to determine appropriate leverage levels and how to introduce perpetual swaps and other leveraged products responsibly. The discussion cites 100x leverage and Robinhood data showing that options represent the largest share of its volume, with zero-day options making up 70% of options volume.

“But what I will say there is like if you've if talked to Chair Behnam about the CFTC, like they are trying to be very thoughtful about the appropriate amount…”—

MARKETS

Crypto Liquidations — The guest attributes the October 10 crypto event to exchange infrastructure and risk-management failures that dislocated collateral, caused an improper de-pegging, and triggered cascading liquidations. The discussion compares roughly 19 in liquidations on October 10 with about $1.2 billion on the day FTX collapsed, emphasizing the market's larger scale and the number of affected participants.

“Yeah, mistakes were made in infrastructure and risk management at certain exchanges that created this, you know, dislocation of collateral…”—

Retail Participation — The guest describes 2025 as the worst year for crypto retail participants, citing losses associated with the Trump meme token, Terra, liquidations, and October 10. He says the resulting loss of trust reduced volumes, active traders, and active accounts even as tokenization, stablecoins, and institutional interest continued to grow.

“And I think what people forget too is that 2025 was not just 1010, but was probably not probably it was definitely the single worst year for crypto ever in…”—

Early Token Access — Early-stage token launches gave investors exposure to protocols much earlier than equity markets typically would. The guest says this early access also made the assets highly volatile and attractive to people who wanted to trade volatility.

“What was really happening was people were launching, you know, some form of a of exposure to their protocol very early stage, much earlier than it typically would happen in…”—

FORECASTS

Volatility Rotation — The guest expects volatility to move between asset classes. He says unusually high equity volatility, driven partly by uncertainty around AI, may eventually dampen and cause some traders to move back toward crypto and other high-volatility assets.

“I have an expectation that volatility moves from one asset class to the other, right?…”—

Bitcoin Outlook — The guest expects Bitcoin to be much higher in the future than it is today, while treating it as distinct from Ethereum and other crypto assets. He does not specify a price target or time horizon.

“I think, you know, Bitcoin is sort of its own thing, Ethereum is sort of its own thing and, you know, I expect that, you know, whatever the time horizon…”—

Institutional Adoption Is Accelerating

At the Audi Summit, Rob Hadick describes strong institutional interest in stablecoins, tokenization, AI, regulation, and crypto's maturation into financial infrastructure.

Dragonfly's Investment Strategy

Hadick explains Dragonfly's financial-technology investment strategy, spanning infrastructure, DeFi, centralized finance, prediction markets, payments, and stablecoins.

What Really Happened on October 10th

The October 10 liquidation cascade resulted from exchange infrastructure, collateral, and risk-management failures, deepening retail losses and damaging participation.

The Rise of Leverage and Prediction Markets

The speakers examine rising leverage, perpetual contracts, options, and prediction markets, arguing that access must be balanced with investor sophistication and responsible oversight.

Why Dragonfly Invested in Polymarket

Dragonfly invested in Polymarket after seeing prediction markets become a trusted information source beyond crypto, with growing relevance across politics and mainstream culture.

Polymarket's Explosive Growth

Polymarket's monthly volume grew from roughly $50 million when Dragonfly invested to $4.5 billion, driven by elections, public attention, and expanding adoption.

How Retail Can Benefit From Tokenization

Retail investors may gain earlier and broader access to tokenized equities, alternative assets, and novel blockchain-based financial products as institutional rails develop.

Token vs Equity: Where Does Value Accrue?

Hadick says token and equity structures depend on regulatory context, while teams increasingly seek token value accrual without sacrificing corporate functionality.

What Will the Next Crypto Bull Market Look Like?

The next bull market may feature renewed volatility, more sophisticated token selection, and greater differentiation rather than universal gains across crypto assets.

Retail vs Institutional Crypto Adoption

Retail traders seek volatility while institutions build infrastructure, and shifting volatility between equities, AI-related markets, and crypto may bring participants back.

Why Crypto Has Become Less Interesting

Crypto became less compelling as platforms made leveraged trading available across stocks, commodities, and other assets, diverting traders from altcoins.

Who Is Buying Altcoins Now?

Some hedge funds and crossover investors are buying application tokens, but volatility and risk management still constrain broader institutional participation.

Institutions Are Coming Back to Crypto

Institutional adoption is arriving through tokenization and financial infrastructure, although it may produce market structures and use cases different from crypto's original expectations.

The Future of Altcoins and Selective Alt Seasons

More on-chain capital and easier access could support crypto prices, but future markets will likely show greater dispersion and reward selective investment.

Final Thoughts on Crypto's Long-Term Future

Despite retail apathy, the speakers remain optimistic about crypto's long-term future because builders continue developing during a period less distracted by prices and hype.

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Important Disclaimers

Not Investment Advice: For education only — not financial, tax or legal advice.

AI-Generated: Made by AI from source transcripts and may contain errors.

No Guarantees: Past performance does not predict future results; investing carries risk.

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