Bankless
Bankless

ROLLUP: The Bull Market is On? | Zcash & NEAR | Kalshi Wash Trading | BlackRock Goes Onchain

September 25, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Bull Market Is On—But Whose Bull Market Is It?

Even Ben Cowen, the famously bearish crypto cycle analyst, has changed his mind. "I assume the interest rate hike," he said in a video titled "Why I Was Wrong," explaining that his thesis had been that rising energy prices would push long-end yields up, the Fed would raise rates in September, the dollar would strengthen, and Bitcoin would reprice downward. Instead, Bitcoin plowed straight through all those macro concerns. "It's just over-indexing on macro," David summarized. "Bitcoin and crypto just plowed through all of those macro concerns." The lesson, as Ryan put it: "You don't want to be out of the market when the market decides it's just time to go up."

The Case for Early Bull

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:04) **Bull Market Confirmation & Cycle Debate** - The hosts open by declaring a bull market is on, citing crypto analyst Ben Cowen's flip, and frame the key question: whose bull market is this?
  • 2 (06:09) **Why the Cycle Experts Flipped** - David and Ryan break down the on-chain and structural reasons that convinced cautious analysts like Cowen and Nato that the bear market is over.
  • 3 (11:57) **Bitcoin vs. Rising Bond Yields** - The hosts discuss a Coinbase analysis showing Bitcoin has a near-zero correlation to rising yields, arguing that crypto cycles are driven by internal herd momentum.
  • 4 (13:24) **Whose Bull Market? The "Revenue Meta" Takes Over** - The hosts pivot to the critical question of which assets will lead, noting a clear outperformance of cash-flow-generating tokens over blue chips.
  • 5 (17:40) **Is This Not a Bitcoin Cycle?** - The hosts debate David Feld's controversial Bankless article arguing that Bitcoin may not lead this cycle due to its lack of cash flow and unclear marginal buyer.
  • 6 (21:43) **Zcash at a 10-Year High: A Real Bitcoin Competitor?** - The hosts analyze Zcash's surge to a $26B market cap, arguing it is the first viable store-of-value competitor to Bitcoin since Ethereum's attempt.
  • 7 (33:03) **Howard Marks Memo: The Debasement Trade is On** - David summarizes the legendary bond investor's latest memo, which explicitly mentions cryptocurrencies as a hedge against rising yields and fiscal irresponsibility.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Show Notes

The bull market may be back, but Bitcoin might not be leading it. Ryan and David break down the early-bull signals, Zcash and NEAR’s surge, rising yields, Kalshi’s wash-trading controversy, and BlackRock’s expanding crypto push.

---

📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24

https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium


---

BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:


🔓 NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK

https://bankless.cc/near2026


🎯 THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS

https://thedefireport.io/bankless


👑 BANKLESS CONTENT MCP

https://www.bankless.com/premium


---

TIMESTAMPS & RESOURCES


0:00 Intro


0:28 Early Bull Confirmed

https://thedefireport.io/research/early-bull-confirmed

https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2102007452057079986

https://x.com/benjamincowen/status/2102572123185107151

https://x.com/saylor/status/2102011709808353551


13:23 New Bull Market Leaders

https://www.bankless.com/read/this-is-not-bitcoin-s-cycle

https://x.com/Delphi_Dig

Bankless