Scott Melker · Oct 23, 2026 · 45 min
Bitcoin's Biggest Advantage Is The One Wall Street Can't Buy | Saeed Badreg
Sunrise CEO Saeed Badreg argues that US regulatory clarity (the GENIUS Act) and incumbents like JP Morgan moving onto Solana and Ethereum make Trump-era crypto policy a net positive for builders, and that tokenizing a roughly $160 trillion equities and real-world-asset market is the main driver of future crypto activity. He sees AI-accelerated news flow driving market volatility and expects AI winners to be massive while over-leveraged names like CoreWeave may fail. Melker's weekly recap covers JP Morgan's 10% Bitcoin projection, BlackRock ETF flows and products, Strategy's purchases, OCC GENIUS Act rules and a potential SpaceX-Tesla merger.
Where they stand
Tokenization of equities and real-world assets, backed by clearer US regulation and institutional adoption, is a major growth driver, while speculative altcoin launches fade.
Medium conviction · years
AI will have a major impact and produce massive winners, though some leveraged bets like CoreWeave may fail.
Medium conviction · years
Markets are volatile due to accelerated information flow, with bubbles somewhere but timing unknowable.
Low conviction · months
Key takeaways
- Saeed says Trump's crypto involvement is a net positive for builders because US posture on stablecoins and the GENIUS Act makes other countries' regulators follow suit. 3:51
- Tether is described as a top-10 buyer of US Treasuries, showing stablecoins now play a non-trivial role in funding US deficits. 5:30
- Market volatility is attributed to the world moving faster, accelerated by AI's ability to digest information, with no sign of slowing. 10:27
- AI is not a zero: some bets like CoreWeave may fail from too much debt, but winners will be massive. 12:34
- Tokenization gives global users access to US equities and pre-IPO exposure; the $160T equities/RWA market coming on chain is a driver of more crypto participation. 20:44
- Crypto-native token launches are largely dead; Saeed expects the majority of on-chain volume not to be crypto-native tokens in 5-10 years. 22:54
- Lack of regulatory clarity caused many of crypto's structural problems, though rules are clearer than 3 years ago. 24:31
- Weekly recap: JP Morgan projects 10% a year for Bitcoin, BlackRock files a downside-protection IBIT ETF, and the OCC advances GENIUS Act rules with yield treatment uncertain. 36:37
Calls and positions
- The majority of on-chain trading volume in the next 5-10 years will not be crypto-native tokens.
“I don't predict in the next five or 10 years the majority of trading volume on chain is crypto native tokens”
- Tesla and SpaceX are likely to merge, forming a huge company and one of the largest Bitcoin treasury holders with over 30,000 Bitcoin.
“this is going to probably be the biggest company on planet Earth in the future”
Views expressed
- Trump's involvement in crypto is a net positive for builders because US stablecoin policy is making other countries' regulators follow.
“I think it's a net positive, um, simply because uh, I've been traveling around the world”
- Stablecoins now play a non-trivial role in helping America borrow and fund its deficits, with Tether a top-10 buyer of US Treasuries.
“Tether's a top 10 buyer of US Treasuries and beats out like G20 countries in terms of purchasing US debt”
- Market volatility reflects a faster world accelerated by AI, and a faster pace is likely the new normal.
“there's going to be a new normal where the world just go just operates a little bit faster”
- AI will have a major impact like other tech leaps, but many investment bets will be wrong and won't exist in 5-10 years.
“A lot of those bets are going to be off”
- CoreWeave may fail because of too much debt amid rising interest rates rather than bad technology.
“It might just be that they took on way too much debt in a time where you have rising interest rates”
- The $160 trillion equities/RWA market moving on chain will drive more participation in crypto than new tokens could.
“that $160 trillion market coming on chain is uh is is I think a driver for more”
- The era of launching a white paper and a token with marketing is largely dead.
“The previous world of just launch a white paper and release a token and you know, do some marketing around it.”
- Prediction markets and tokenized stocks on the same rails will pull volume and liquidity away from most altcoins toward a select few.
“if you want to know where where alt season went, now you can just like bet on the weather on the same platform”
- Tokenization is becoming too big to fail, so the plumbing cannot be reversed after the midterms.
“if everything's tokenized, there's no reversing it”
- JP Morgan's 10% annual projection for Bitcoin, with outperformance of other assets but no allocation, is seen as a modest forecast.
“which I say is a prediction for ants”
Companies, projects and topics mentioned
- Stablecoins
- Treasuries and bonds
- Volatility
- CoreWeave
- Interest rates
- Tokenization
- Altcoins
- Prediction markets
- Bitcoin
- JPMorgan Chase
- Tesla
- SpaceX
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- Bitcoin Is Insurance Against Financial Chaos - ARK's Chief FuturistOct 25, 2026
- Bitcoin Could Swing 30% Either Way In The Next Two Months | Gracy ChenOct 24, 2026
- Bitcoin Was Recovering. Then Wall Street's AI Problem Hit. | Carlos DomingoOct 22, 2026
Summary generated by AI from the video's captionsand checked against it; quotes are verbatim. Processed Oct 28, 2026.
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