Danny hosts Carlos and Kunal from the Blockworks research team to discuss recent regulatory developments and market trends. Carlos serves as the team's derivatives expert while Kunal specializes in on-chain gaming, TCG, and gacha platforms.

The conversation covers the CFTC's approval of Bitcoin perpetual futures contracts and the broader implications for US crypto regulation. They analyze how this development affects existing platforms like Coinbase versus offshore exchanges seeking US market access.

The discussion shifts to Solana tokenomics, examining a new proposal (SIMD 547) that would implement resource-based fees to address the network's inflation challenges. Finally, they explore the booming Pokemon card market and its on-chain manifestation through platforms like Collector Crypt.

CFTC Approves First US Bitcoin Perpetual Futures

CFTC approved Kalshi's BTC perpetual contract submission with one-day turnaround, suggesting pre-coordination and potential for rapid additional listings

Coinbase received no-action letter enabling derivatives trading through Deribit acquisition, allowing US perps offerings

"It's going to open the floodgates for institutions to be able to trade perpetuals, and that's just going to be beneficial for everyone" - Carlos

CFTC emphasized case-by-case review process for perpetual contracts, indicating selective approval based on underlying asset characteristics

Offshore Exchanges Face US Compliance Challenges

Decentralized platforms like Hyperliquid may need separate KYC-compliant front ends to access US markets while maintaining base layer permissionlessness

"It would be really stupid if you just create a separate exchange with its own liquidity for the US markets, because you end up with the same Binance International versus Binance US situation" - Carlos

Builder code architecture could enable compliant US access while preserving unified liquidity pools across jurisdictions

Retail users already bypass restrictions with VPNs, but institutional adoption requires regulatory clarity and compliance infrastructure

Solana's Resource-Based Fee Proposal Targets Inflation

SIMD 547 proposes additional fees based on compute unit consumption, potentially increasing transaction costs 10x while remaining under one cent

"Oracle updates would really just increase by 2% the cost whereas if you're a user interacting on pump.fun, you can add like a 60% fee on top" - Carlos

Proposal targets retail speculation without affecting optimized market maker operations or validator consensus voting

Mechanism scales with network capacity increases from current 60 million to planned 100+ million compute units per block

Could restore 2,000-5,000 SOL daily burn compared to current near-zero burn after SIMD 96 removed priority fee burning

Pokemon Card Mania Drives On-Chain Gacha Boom

Collector Crypt generated $9 million revenue in May with 10% net margins from Pokemon and One Piece card pack openings

Platform holds $20 million inventory with pricing oracle enabling tokenization and liquidity for high-value cards

"66% of people don't keep their cards. So they're not really collectors, they're just speculators" - Kunal on user behavior

$1,000 Pokemon packs drove majority of recent growth, with top spender reaching $22 million in total purchases

Average user down 2-3% despite platform's house edge, indicating contained losses compared to NFT speculation cycles

Valuation Disconnect Between Platform Success and Token

Cards token trades at 4.5x revenue multiple but faces inventory risk and limited token value accrual compared to pure trading platforms

"You can't really put on too much of a fundamental lens for some of these trades" - Kunal on momentum-driven valuations

Physical Pokemon cards doubled in recent months, creating reflexive demand for on-chain gacha platforms

Platform success doesn't guarantee token performance due to high inventory costs and limited buyback potential

Resources Mentioned

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson's environmental warning about pesticides was mentioned as an example of predictions that were initially dismissed but later vindicated, drawing a parallel to regulatory developments in cryptocurrency markets.