Is The Bottom In? What The Lads Are Buying!
Is The Bottom In? What The Lads Are Buying!
1 hour agoSteady Lads
Podcast1 hr 23 min
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Note: AI-generated summary based on third-party content. Not financial advice. Read more.
Quick Insights

Hold Bitcoin (BTC) as a defensive core asset alongside Gold against currency debasement, supported by a solid market bottom at $60,000 and long-term cycle targets between $180,000 and $185,000.

Accumulate Zcash (ZEC) as a high-upside, privacy-focused store of value that trades at a steep discount to Bitcoin with a significantly reduced supply overhang.

Gain exposure to the crypto-AI sector by targeting liquid, fundamentally strong laggards such as Near Protocol (NEAR) and Grass (GRASS).

Avoid adding to Bittensor (TAO) due to aggressive token dilution and declining developer incentive structures.

Reduce exposure to Ethereum (ETH) and exercise caution with Hyperliquid (HYPE), as capital rotates toward higher-growth thematic plays and away from exhausted narratives and stretched valuations.

Detailed Analysis

Bitcoin (BTC)

  • Price Action & Bottom Sentiment: The hosts view the $60,000 price level as a durable bottom for this cycle due to the high trading volume and resilience shown against negative macro news during that period.
  • Macro Debasement & Gold Correlation: Bitcoin is behaving increasingly as a defensive macro asset against fiat currency debasement and bond market instability.
    • Institutional investors and Bloomberg data highlight an all-time high correlation between Bitcoin and Gold, with participants buying both simultaneously as a hedge.
  • Cycle Upside Expectations: While some panellists anticipate targets between $180,000 and $185,000, others caution about diminishing returns compared to prior cycles (where the move was from $68,000 to $125,000), making upside multiples potentially tighter from current $80,000+ levels.

Takeaways

  • Consider Bitcoin as a defensive, core macro holding alongside precious metals to hedge against fiat debasement, but manage expectations regarding percentage gains compared to early-stage cycles.

Zcash (ZEC)

  • Privacy & Quantum-Resistant Narrative: Seen as one of the cleanest fundamental theses in the market—serving as an emergent digital store of value with enhanced privacy and quantum resistance.
  • Supply & Distribution Dynamics: The multi-year supply overhang appears to have cleared as early venture investors and miners finished distributing their holdings, while block reward halvings have significantly reduced incoming supply.
    • On-chain metrics show record amounts of ZEC entering the shielded (private) pool, indicating legitimate adoption rather than pure speculation.
    • High resilience shown at key levels around $800, easily absorbing large whale spot selling.
  • Asymmetric Valuation Relative to Bitcoin: Shares the exact same fixed supply cap (21 million coins) as Bitcoin, but trades at roughly 1% of Bitcoin's market valuation, offering traders a high-beta alternative.

Takeaways

  • Zcash presents a high-upside thematic play on privacy and alternative stores of value, supported by improving chart patterns and shrinking circulating supply.

Hyperliquid (HYPE)

  • Market Dominance & Growth: Hyperliquid has solidified itself as a leading decentralized perpetuals and trading venue, driving significant trading volume across crypto and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).
  • Valuation & Value Accrual Concerns: Concerns were raised regarding its expanding price-to-earnings multiple and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) approaching $80 billion.
    • Questions remain regarding how fee revenue generated from TradeXYZ (the entity powering RWA perpetuals) will directly accrue or distribute value back to HYPE token holders.

Takeaways

  • While Hyperliquid remains a top decentralized trading platform, the rapid run-up in valuation warrants caution; investors should look for greater transparency regarding fee-sharing before aggressively adding to positions.

AI Crypto Assets (NEAR, GRASS, TAO)

  • The "AI Money" Theme: The panel highlighted the emergence of an "AI money / compute currency" asset class to complement Bitcoin (store of value) and Zcash (privacy).
  • Near Protocol (NEAR) & Grass (GRASS): Identified as AI-adjacent blockchain projects with solid underlying fundamentals that have lagged relative to the broader AI boom, offering liquid upside.
  • Bittensor (TAO): Viewed critically due to declining subnet incentive structures, heavy dilution, and over-gamification that has struggled to retain top developer talent.

Takeaways

  • Investors seeking exposure to the crypto-AI intersection should focus on liquid, fundamentally supported protocols like NEAR and GRASS, while remaining cautious of networks facing incentive decay like TAO.

Ethereum (ETH)

  • Narrative Exhaustion: Ethereum is currently suffering from narrative fatigue, with the panel noting an absence of conviction ("ultrasound money" thesis failing to retain mindshare) compared to simpler assets like Bitcoin or higher-growth alternatives.
  • Capital Rotation: Significant capital and user attention have shifted toward alternative Layer-1s, decentralized perpetual platforms, and mobile trading apps.

Takeaways

  • Sentiment remains muted; capital is actively rotating into clearer macro or high-beta thematic opportunities, suggesting limited near-term outperformance for Ethereum relative to peers.
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Episode Description
THE LADS ARE BACK! After four months away, they returned in the middle of a $20K Bitcoin week. Is the bottom in? Is a new episode the top signal? OG Lad Thiccy is back for the whole show, and they're joined by Se, co-founder of FOMO, and returning guest Qiao Wang. Thanks for tuning in 🫡 Make sure to Like & Subscribe! In Episode #102 we cover: 00:00 The Lads Are So Back 02:45 Is The Bottom In? 08:35 Is Anyone New Actually Coming Into Crypto? 14:20 Se From FOMO Joins The Lads 39:45 Qiao Wang Joins / The Zcash Thesis 50:10 Health Maxxing & Building In The AI Era 1:05:05 What The Lads Are Actually Holding 1:12:44 Pasta of the Week 🍝 🇸🇬 The Lads are doing a LIVE show at TOKEN2049 Singapore on October 7th — come say hi! ------ SL on X: https://x.com/0xSteadyLads SL on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@0xSteadyLads ------ * Jordi Alexander • https://x.com/gametheorizing * Justin Bram • https://x.com/JustinCBram * Taiki Maeda • https://x.com/TaikiMaeda2 * Dim Selk • https://x.com/dim_ss * Thiccy • https://x.com/thiccyth0t * Se • https://x.com/seyong * Qiao Wang • https://x.com/QwQiao ⚠️ NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE ⚠️ This episode is for entertainment and informational purposes only. Nothing said by the hosts, guests, or written in this description is financial, investment, legal, or tax advice, or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any asset. The hosts and guests may hold positions in the assets discussed, and those positions can change at any time without notice. Crypto is extremely volatile and you can lose everything. Do your own research and speak with a licensed professional before making any investment decision. #Crypto #Bitcoin #Altcoins #BTC #Ethereum #ETH #Solana #DeFi #CryptoNews #CryptoPodcast #Hyperliquid #Zcash #AltSeason #Bullish #Macro #SteadyLads
About Steady Lads
Steady Lads

Steady Lads

A crypto podcast focused on DeFi and featuring: @TaikiMaeda2 | @gametheorizing | @JustinCBram