YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → The Next Crypto Cycle Will Look Different - TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026

The Next Crypto Cycle Will Look Different - TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026 — Transcript

by TOKEN2049 · 5,223 words · 789 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:08Welcome everyone.
0:10We're going to be chatting about cycles
0:13today.
0:14How the cycle looks right now, how they
0:17looked before.
0:18So to do one warm-up question here for
0:20the audience, if you can raise your hand
0:23if you think that this cycle that is
0:25just starting or currently that we're in
0:27is similar to the previous ones or the
0:29same ones. If you can raise your hand.
0:33So basically no one or a few people.
0:35Which is good because that's what we're
0:37going to be talking about right now. So
0:38first question for the full panel.
0:41Uh just just to warm up is what is one
0:44thing that you think is like drastically
0:47different right now than from the last
0:49cycle 4-5 years ago. We can start with
0:51Sierra.
0:52>> I think one thing is that in the
0:54previous cycles we always see rotations
0:57of capital flow into different sectors.
1:00It's always something that's really
1:01hyped. You know, it was
1:03ICO in the first place and then we had
1:06NFT and meme coin. And now people seem
1:09smarter, right? Institutional capital is
1:13thinking more about liquidity, thinking
1:16about regulations and custody, risk
1:19management. So we're not really seeing a
1:21lot of rotation in altcoins now compared
1:24to what it is 5 years ago.
1:26>> I would say two things, but I'll try to
1:28focus on one of them, which is that now
1:31we have intelligence on tap as a
1:36commodity, which means that you can pay
1:38a couple of cents or a couple of dollars
1:41to have almost the equivalent of a PhD
1:44grade researcher at your fingertips or a
1:47software engineer to some extent. Which
1:50I think, if we're being honest,
1:52necessarily has to change how investing
1:56and trading is going to work.
1:58So,
1:59to [snorts] me that has to mean that the
2:02next crypto cycle must look different.
2:05We have AI agents here with us.
2:08>> Okay, well.
2:09>> All right. Like uh every time I'd say
2:12something on stage, I I tend to offend
2:14someone. I guess that's why organizer
2:15like me. I would say this cycle just
2:17like stop being that guy that's only
2:20look at candle chart and make your like
2:22decision. This is the world. This is the
2:24real world now. Like you have to look at
2:26the macro. You have to look at the
2:28interaction between our world and crypto
2:30world and all other different asset
2:31class like stocks, commodities. We've
2:34been talking a lot about this, I think,
2:36today and yesterday already. Um
2:38you have to be connected to a real
2:41world. It's not about just being a
2:42virtual asset anymore. I think that's
2:44important.
2:46>> And how are businesses changing? Like
2:48obviously exchanges um
2:51with all these new products coming
2:53coming live, right? Like it used to be
2:54that crypto exchanges were focused fully
2:56on just crypto spot, perps, options. Now
3:00it's Now it's stocks. Now it's, you
3:02know, pre-IPO tokens.
3:04So many different things and it's
3:06starting to become almost like crypto
3:07exchanges are becoming almost like
3:09Robinhood in the US where it's a very
3:11generalized everything exchange. Um
3:16Do you think that's a trend that will
3:17continue going forward?
3:19>> Yeah, I I do think so. Like I'm coming
3:21from like a traditional finance
3:22background and this is not something
3:24that we are doing in in the crypto
3:26exchange as well. Like the traditional
3:28broker and exchange want to also come
3:30closer to our world as well via
3:32different vehicle, maybe like EFT and
3:35whatnot. Um
3:36for us, it's not about like, okay, a lot
3:38of people saying this cycle is like a
3:41bit boring for our industry and people
3:43is going for gold and going for, you
3:45know, US stocks and whatnot. But as an
3:48exchange, I think what we trying to do
3:50is provide a single platform for
3:52multiple asset and then it's make your
3:55capital more efficient. Make sure people
3:57you don't have to go, you know, go off
3:59ramp, get your fiat and then just like
4:01buy it somewhere
4:03in a market that don't open 24/7. So,
4:06it's a it's a it's a game of access and
4:08diversification of the the portfolio,
4:11which makes sense in both well anyway.
4:13So, that's what we're trying to do.
4:15>> I think on this topic
4:17when I joined crypto 2017
4:20we would ridicule this boomer take that,
4:23you know, we believe in blockchain, we
4:25don't believe in Bitcoin. But somehow it
4:28feels like the boomer take partially
4:30maybe is correct now.
4:32>> Right.
4:32>> Because blockchains now you have other
4:35types of assets that are not crypto
4:37assets, which means that the crypto
4:38assets face competition from stocks and
4:41real estate and commodities and so on.
4:44Like on our platform where people can
4:46trade perps and and and tokens and so
4:49on. The top perps assets that people
4:52trade
4:5310 out of the top 15 are not crypto. And
4:56we are a very crypto focused brand and
4:58platform.
4:59So, I think that's a reality that the
5:02same medium that crypto assets have
5:04lived are now facing competition from
5:06these other assets.
5:07>> Do you think that that has contributed
5:09to crypto sort of underperforming over
5:11the last 2 years when you compare to
5:13like commodities, even stocks? All of
5:15them are effectively all-time highs.
5:16Crypto is, you know, down 40 50%. Do you
5:19think that's one of the contributing
5:21factors?
5:21>> I think it is. If anecdotally I look
5:24around me and I look at people who are
5:26genuinely crypto traders and you ask
5:28them what are they trading, you know,
5:30they might say Korean semi stocks or
5:33something that's totally unrelated to
5:35crypto, right? But they are using
5:37platforms like HyperLiquid to trade. So,
5:40it is kind of this weird thing where the
5:43actual platforms are benefiting.
5:45Um but the crypto assets themselves I
5:48think, are not benefiting from it.
5:50>> Just to add on that, I think also
5:52compared to if we're talking about 2017,
5:552018, the correlation between Bitcoin
5:57and all of the other traditional assets
5:59is extremely low compared to what it is
6:01today. And also just because all the
6:04exchanges, crypto exchanges are offering
6:07FX trading, all of the other assets that
6:10we can get access to, it just makes it
6:13super competitive for
6:15crypto, especially for all coins to be
6:17traded and getting good liquidity.
6:20However, I still think um crypto
6:22exchanges and crypto itself is very
6:24competitive because, you know, compared
6:26to banks and traditional
6:30trading platforms, you know, crypto has
6:32this edge of connected to different
6:35kinds of networks like, you know, layer
6:37zero for example is our portfolio
6:38companies connected to over 150
6:41networks. That's just, you know,
6:43something that is very unique and I
6:45think it will remain um
6:47very attractive for all of the retail
6:50and institutional traders out there.
6:53>> What's one thing that you guys are
6:55bullish on when it comes to crypto? Like
6:57what's one narrative that you think is
6:59something that's super obvious to you,
7:01but maybe not, you know, obvious to the
7:03audience that we have here today?
7:05>> I'll go first, okay. So, I I like
7:09technology. I think
7:12I'm definitely not the smartest guys in
7:13this room and it's a very big room. I
7:16always like I have the confidence that
7:18like there's smart people down there
7:20doing something new just like the last
7:22cycle, just like NFT, just like DeFi,
7:25just like whatever. And then by the time
7:28when it happens, it's like
7:30oh well, I would have would able
7:32to do it. It's like so trivial, right?
7:34Um so, I think that is like what's
7:36driving the the the industry
7:39for so many years and for so many years
7:42going forward. For like the old like
7:43traditional financial industry, it's
7:45about like operational efficiency. It's
7:47about like how you cut costs, how you
7:49like doing more like vertical horizontal
7:52mergers, but we are still here to
7:55innovate. I think that's important.
7:56>> I would say agentic trading for me is
7:59the number one thing I'm bullish on. I
8:00think in the next 12 18 months, trading
8:04is going to be totally transformed and
8:06we're going to have a golden era of
8:08agentic trading. And so if you look at
8:10what's happened with coding and software
8:13engineering, that world looks totally
8:15different now than it did 5 years ago.
8:17And actually it has benefited software
8:20engineers because they are way more
8:21productive and they can cover way more
8:23ground and actually increase the quality
8:25of what they do, but it has also
8:27benefited people who are not software
8:29engineers. So that now if you didn't
8:31know how to code before, now you can
8:33actually build something, a small
8:35application,
8:36a landing page, whatever it is.
8:39And I think potentially the same thing
8:41is going to happen with trading. We're
8:43going to have people who are really into
8:45trading will level up their skills
8:48because they will have better toolkits,
8:50better agentic products they can use and
8:52it's going to change the role of the
8:55trader.
8:56And also people who have never traded
8:59are going to be able to express views,
9:02beliefs about the world and agents are
9:05going to allow them to create
9:07strategies, create portfolios, create
9:09bundles of assets that they can actually
9:12hold and be you know, managed
9:14day-to-day.
9:16So I think agentic trading is going to
9:17have kind of a Claude code or a cursor
9:20moment at some point next year and in
9:222028 it's going to be the norm of how
9:24people trade and invest.
9:26>> To me the most exciting opportunity is
9:29the ones that not that is not only
9:31accessible to crypto OG's like our
9:33panelists, but also accessible to the
9:36greater audience out there. Um
9:39so that would be public traded companies
9:42that's um blockchain infrastructure
9:45backed or take Circle as example. You
9:48know, just
9:49everybody out there who hasn't even even
9:52have a crypto trading account can take
9:55benefits of stablecoin issuers by just
9:58trading Circle's stock. I think that's a
10:00great opportunity that I'm really
10:01excited about.
10:03>> Alex, I want to double-click on
10:04something that you said which is
10:06[snorts]
10:07agents and their role um in the future.
10:10We've seen the models get insanely
10:12smart, Opus 5.5, the Astra models. It's
10:15crazy what they can do now compared to
10:17what they could do a year ago.
10:19Um what role do you think they will have
10:21on crypto? One,
10:23probably everyone in this room saw the
10:25discussion on Twitter today where people
10:27are starting to be worried that maybe
10:29encryption could be at some point
10:30impacted because the models are just
10:32getting too smart as breakthroughs in
10:34mathematics. On the other hand, crypto's
10:36also very useful to agents because they
10:38can transact much easier than if they're
10:40using credit cards or traditional
10:42banking rails. So I'm curious about your
10:44view on this. Like are you leaning very
10:46positive or are there also risks?
10:49>> So let me focus more on the second part
10:51of what you said that I think uh we
10:53should all acknowledge that blockchains
10:55have
10:55horrendous UX for human beings. Anyone
10:59who's ever tried to deal with a
11:00blockchain over the last 10 years
11:02will have been very disappointed. It's a
11:04little bit better now, but it's still
11:05pretty terrible.
11:07Uh and then suddenly we have these new
11:09things, agents, that can just figure it
11:11out for us, right? And that's I think an
11:15incredible opportunity because crypto
11:17has always had a UX problem. And the
11:19fact that you can just express your
11:21intent to an agent and the agent figures
11:25out all the stuff on the back end, I
11:27think it's a huge opportunity to just
11:29have much better products. And in some
11:31ways, I think crypto has always been a
11:34back-end technology that we've kind of
11:36pretended was a front-end technology,
11:38right? The most successful crypto
11:41companies are actually companies that
11:43have put the crypto on the back end, but
11:45have created centralized front ends,
11:47right? If you think of Binance,
11:48Coinbase, and so on.
11:50So, that is like the bullish part.
11:53Um I am a little bit concerned about the
11:55stuff that we've been seeing on X
11:57lately, and I'm not going to pretend I'm
12:00an expert in that area, but I've talked
12:03to people who are um experts in the area
12:06of cryptography, quantum computing, and
12:08so on. Um maybe a year ago, they were
12:11saying, "Yeah, 5 to 10 years is kind of
12:14that's been the prediction of most
12:15experts for a long time, and they just
12:17keep rolling it."
12:19Um but I wonder if some of them will
12:21have to re-underwrite those estimates
12:23when you see how quickly AI is
12:26developing, especially in mathematics,
12:27right? Some of these proofs that are
12:29being produced, and
12:31So, that's a little bit scary, but I
12:32think the other thing is, if that plays
12:34out, it's not just crypto. It's like all
12:36of the internet, and like, you know,
12:37cryptography more broadly. So, we'll
12:39have much bigger problems to deal with,
12:41and maybe the solution is just to move
12:43back into caves and start hunting
12:45animals.
12:45>> What do you guys think is the edge um
12:48for people that you work with at your
12:49companies when AI gets so smart, like
12:52these models are just getting smarter
12:53and smarter?
12:55How do you then differentiate yourself?
12:56Like, one
12:58for Alex, maybe like, you know, if
13:00everyone has the same tools at their
13:02disposal, like, what is the human
13:03actually doing? Is he is he the
13:04decision-maker for the creativity, or,
13:07you know, what is what what is the role
13:08of the human in the age of super smart
13:11AI models? And I would love to get
13:12everyone's thoughts here.
13:14>> Yeah, from my point of view, I think um
13:17this is kind of the the the the great
13:19time for like the ideas guy or the ideas
13:22girl.
13:23Uh so, I do think creativity and being a
13:25contrarian thinker is the thing that's
13:27going to be good not just for investing
13:29and trading, but also if you look at
13:31marketing, everyone's producing the same
13:33freaking marketing content everywhere
13:35through through Claude and and you know,
13:38chat GPT and so on. So being a
13:40contrarian and trying to do things the
13:42opposite way, what actually looks
13:44unpredictable is the thing that's going
13:46to work. And maybe that's the same for
13:48trading and investing.
13:50But I'm not sure that the skills is the
13:53technical skills is the thing that you
13:55need because AI can do a lot of that.
13:57It's more about the creativity and the
13:59courage that you need to do things very
14:01differently.
14:03Uh so I think investors that have that
14:05mindset are going to do well, frankly.
14:07>> Yeah, I would tend to agree with Alex,
14:09but like I want to go on top of that.
14:11It's like
14:12and also like I'm a software engineer
14:14and I'm also a trader. I can see like
14:17how things going from the both sides. I
14:19do remember around like this is a pretty
14:22thematic because like around 15 years
14:25ago like the the PM in Singapore is
14:27actually post on Facebook just like to
14:28show he's still programming. He built
14:30like a Sudoku like program. All right,
14:33I'm I'm not sure how many of you
14:34remember. I remember it's like well, if
14:37he can do it, I will do it. So I program
14:38it. Right? But you have to understand
14:40how Sudoku actually works.
14:42Today, well, actually last week I did
14:44the same thing with um you know, Claude.
14:47It's one poem.
14:49But this is like quite spoiled for the
14:51next generation. It's like they don't
14:53have to understand the underlying ideas.
14:56But for our generation who have been
14:58through the training of like software
15:00engineering, how things work, have write
15:03like a for loop or like a function
15:04before, they know things how they work
15:07and make better idea how to have like
15:09better way to implement idea as you
15:11said. So um yeah, we are at the golden
15:15era, the golden generation. Whatever the
15:17next generation being spoiled by the AI,
15:19their critical critical thinking and
15:21idea generation will be will not be as
15:23good as we do.
15:25>> For us as an investor, I think AI
15:28definitely helps with you know, due
15:30diligence, collecting the data, doing
15:32research on the team. Um but you know,
15:36it's not replaceable by AI. That's why
15:39we have this conference here, right?
15:41We're not online. We can talk to all the
15:43company we can. But you know, we have
15:45this amazing conference here so that
15:46people can actually connect. They can
15:49build the trust.
15:50>> and CR aura.
15:52>> Yes. And it's very important to be a
15:55strategic investor, not only just
15:57provide all the technology and data AI
16:00can provide and not only the capital but
16:03but also operational expertise that can
16:05help people build a token, list a token
16:08that you can get to talk to exchanges or
16:10strategic partners like Nansen. So
16:12that's all not replaceable by AI.
16:15>> I'm constantly shocked with you know,
16:16when I when I talk to normal people, how
16:19few are still using these models. Like
16:22it we have these things at our
16:23fingertips and you know, it seems like
16:25at least in my bubble like 80% of people
16:28are not using these models properly. It
16:29seems shocking to me. So one question to
16:32follow up on that,
16:33do you think it's easier or more
16:35difficult now to make money in crypto
16:39now that you have access to all this
16:40information but everyone else does as
16:42well. But then there's the disparity of
16:44like a lot of people are just not using
16:45the tools efficiently.
16:47>> This is why I think of it as a golden
16:48age because exactly to your point, it's
16:52not like everyone is using AI at our max
16:55abilities.
16:56So I think the people are really leaning
16:58into this hard are going to outperform,
17:02frankly.
17:03And again, it doesn't mean you just go
17:04out to cloud and you say, you know, make
17:06me money, make no mistakes. You have to
17:08do a little bit more work than that.
17:10But if you do lean into it and if you
17:12actually are systematic about how you do
17:14it, which which tools you use, the data,
17:17the harness, the models, you know,
17:19backtesting, paper trading or agents,
17:22all of these different things, then it
17:24seems kind of
17:25reasonable or almost like it's
17:27unreasonable to assume that's not going
17:29to help you, especially if you compare
17:32to the bar of a retail trader. I'm not
17:34going to call out certain, you know,
17:36retail trading products out there, but
17:37the probability of the users making
17:40money on these platforms is very, very
17:42low. So, if you are using agents to help
17:46you with trading,
17:47it seems logical that you should be able
17:49to do better than the average retail
17:50trader. And then the question is how
17:52high can you lift the bar? Can you get
17:54to like S&P 500 returns? Can you get to
17:57like, you know, Jane Street and Hudson
17:59River Trading returns? Uh may- maybe
18:01not. That seems kind of difficult.
18:04But it seems very likely that you can do
18:07a lot better than a retail trader who's
18:09just manually trading on some trading
18:11app.
18:11>> Yeah, I always say um it's always the um
18:16it's always matter is like what happens
18:18between the monitor and the chair. So,
18:20it's the human factor.
18:21Um I'm I remember I I bought a a Kindle
18:25for a friend a few years ago. He never
18:27actually turned it on. And imagine like
18:30Kindle as a technology is like help you,
18:31like you don't have a books anymore.
18:33Yeah. Where's the camera? Yeah, I'm
18:34talking to you, Gavin. Then what's like
18:36like we have we have seen this before,
18:38right?
18:39We so scared to like send money to
18:41people just because like of the wallet
18:43address, like there's a typo or
18:44something. What's actually the
18:46technology provide to us
18:48and the the the gap between people and
18:50the technology is actually huge. What we
18:53should be doing is like how we do it to
18:55encapsulate the technology. For example,
18:57yeah, agents make things much easier,
18:59programming or like finding the signals.
19:02Maybe like for example, payment, right?
19:04Yeah, using Google Pay and Apple Pay,
19:07everyone know how to use it. It doesn't
19:09matter if it's like fiat or like crypto
19:11at the back. That's like the industry
19:13trying to do is just like make things so
19:16>> Yeah.
19:17>> full proof and then you you when you
19:20trade, we will give you the other
19:22saying, "Hey, by the way,
19:24we not doxing the the project team just
19:26yet or like the the chain actually have
19:28viability. Do you still want to trade?"
19:30So, I think that's important just
19:32provide more like a curated information
19:34based on the technology to our users.
19:36>> And have you seen any user behavior
19:38changes on BingX or [snorts] like people
19:40are just behaving differently than two
19:42or three years ago?
19:43>> Well, I would say like they're changing
19:44because users like they have like a
19:47spectrum of people. They are people like
19:50one like 4% yield or like just staking
19:52stablecoin to like whatever 100x
19:55leverage on meme coin still today. Um
19:58again, for us it's just like provide
19:59like really educated decisions powered
20:02that I either by AI or by human being
20:05just curate what's happening. As I
20:07started the panel today earlier, like
20:11what about the macro? Stop just seeing
20:13the you know, the candle chart. See a
20:14little bit a little bit about the real
20:16world. Provide them with the actual
20:19related relevant information for them to
20:21make the you know, opportunity more
20:23realistic.
20:24>> Zero, for you you have a good view of
20:26the other side of crypto which is
20:29projects that are raising, investing in
20:30general. How have things changed there
20:33um over the last few years? Like it
20:35seems like a lot of VC firms are now
20:37either pivoting or expanding to
20:39investing in other sectors as well. What
20:41have you seen yourself and like how
20:42competitive it is compared to what it
20:44was before?
20:45>> The total amount of money raised in the
20:47space is still increasing, but numbers
20:49of projects actually being able to raise
20:51money is decreasing. So, it means that
20:54um all the funds out there they're
20:56investing into later stages projects.
20:59Compared to years ago, you can just
21:00raise with an idea with maybe a piece of
21:03paper, right? But now
21:06uh investors needs to see products
21:08that's actually working,
21:10uh real users, and especially retention
21:13of users who's coming back to our
21:14product when the incentives are gone.
21:17And real revenue. So, I think that's
21:20like the trend that we're seeing in this
21:21space in terms of fundraising.
21:23>> It It's pretty interesting because I
21:25think AI has this um effect on raising
21:28the bar.
21:29Right? And that's kind of what you're
21:30saying, that the bar is now raised. It's
21:33not enough to have an idea. You You
21:35actually have to go further.
21:37Um and I think this concept is is the
21:40right way to think about what you have
21:41to do as like a human being to thrive in
21:44this era.
21:45And I think there are basically like
21:46four human traits that um will determine
21:50whether you will succeed in the agentic
21:52era or not. The first one is, do you
21:54have agency? This is a bit of a meme,
21:56but it's it's a real deal. Like, do you
21:58actually get up and do things, or do you
21:59just sit around waiting to be prompted?
22:02The second thing is, are you Do you have
22:03focus? Do you focus on the right
22:05problems? The third is, are you able to
22:08communicate clearly what you need to do?
22:11Uh and the fourth is, do you have a high
22:13quality bar? Or do you just release slop
22:15constantly, right? And so, I think
22:17anyone in whatever category, whether
22:19it's investing or trading or building
22:22things, like those are the four
22:25personality traits or or traits that
22:27humans need to do really well. And it's
22:29I think it's super important that people
22:31don't get
22:32pessimistic about AI cuz you hear You
22:34hear so much about like entry-level jobs
22:37are going away and like, you know,
22:39everyone is, you know, losing a bunch of
22:42different various things. But the
22:44reality is, you can actually lean in
22:46super hard and do better than ever in
22:48this era.
22:49>> Primary tree ownership of data do
22:51matters, and your ability to execute do
22:54matters.
22:55>> Yes. I remember when Nansen was
22:57starting, right? It was just a data
22:59analysis company, basically like
23:01relatively simple product and you've
23:03then basically seen what's what's what's
23:05coming on the AI side and transformed
23:07the company. So, can you walk the
23:09audience a little bit through like how
23:11as a leader at a firm or founder,
23:14how do you go through that process? Like
23:15when did you realize that agenda trading
23:18is going to be something that the firm
23:20wants to focus on and maybe the data by
23:21itself is not a sustainable product.
23:23>> Yeah, so when we started the company, we
23:25used AI a lot on the back end, right?
23:27Behind the scenes. We have 500 million
23:30plus labeled addresses and a lot of them
23:32are agentically labeled and most of them
23:34are algorithmically labeled, but people
23:36don't see that. They just see the labels
23:38in in the product. And what we've seen
23:41is that AI is kind of coming to the
23:43foreground of the user experience and in
23:45some ways, even if you have more
23:48complexity,
23:49the goal is really to make the product
23:51simpler. And if you look at the product
23:53today versus 2000 20, it's actually a
23:57simpler product for the end user today,
24:00but there's way more complexity on the
24:02back end to make that happen.
24:04Uh in 2020, you'd have to navigate,
24:06which chart should I look at? Which
24:08metrics? What does this mean? And today,
24:10you can use our mobile app and you just
24:12talk to the agent and you say, "Hey,
24:14which tokens are smart money buying?
24:17Right? Who are the top holders of this
24:19token?" And it does all of that for you.
24:21So, it is a little bit ironic because
24:24the technology has gotten really
24:25complex,
24:26but I think it has actually forced us to
24:28make the product and user experience a
24:31lot simpler.
24:32So, that's on the product development.
24:35In terms of the team and the
24:36organization, we've done our best to
24:39make a really AI native culture in the
24:42company. Uh which is uh which means that
24:45you are positive about what AI is going
24:48to bring. And you're not, you know,
24:50dunking on people for having an M dash
24:52in a message, you know, you acknowledge
24:55that people use AI to communicate and
24:57you don't want to make it sloppy. You
24:59have to be very critical of slop. But
25:02you acknowledge that people will use AI
25:04for everything in their work. They
25:06should be doing that.
25:07But you shouldn't remove the thinking
25:09component, right? You have to raise the
25:11bar and actually think harder but have,
25:15you know, 10x the quality in everything
25:17you do. So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff
25:19we could talk about here but those are
25:21some of the points.
25:22>> Kevin, one more question for you. Um
25:25For exchanges, security is one of the
25:27main aspects of the business itself,
25:30right? Like if you're compromised, you
25:31lose trust and there has been more and
25:34more hacks of DeFi protocols.
25:37Bitget also was impacted a couple of
25:39weeks ago.
25:40Has it gotten a lot more difficult for
25:42exchanges to defend against these
25:43threats now that I'm guessing AI is
25:45contributing to, you know, be able to
25:48find these vulnerabilities?
25:50>> Yeah, uh
25:51Funny enough, I start my career 20 years
25:53ago like in IT risk management in
25:56JPMorgan. So, it's actually something I
25:58I can I can chip in. Um
26:02It's Is it like more and more difficult?
26:04Definitely, yes, because of AI and
26:06because of like if you see the hack
26:08recently, it's actually nothing to do
26:10with the internal system. It's like
26:12vendor. So,
26:14you you have to do additional layer of
26:16like due diligence on like the security
26:18system of like all your vendors. It's
26:21really hard. But you know what doesn't
26:23change? Is uh again, like
26:27whatever problem between the monitor and
26:28the chair. Um it's been like a really,
26:31really big [snorts] and huge focus for
26:33us internally. We have continuous and
26:36regular training with not only the IT
26:38staff, but like every single one. Have
26:41to make sure that you know what's going
26:43on, what you can send to people and what
26:45is like a fishing attempt. And on top of
26:48that,
26:49user educations, right? So, I would
26:52assume that like both of us here like
26:54OG, we've been through that, we've been
26:57unfortunately hacked before or rugged
26:59pool before, but there's every single
27:01day there will be like 200,000 people
27:04like joining the industry for the first
27:05time, placing the the first trade in on
27:08chain for the first time. And these are
27:10the people never actually know this
27:12hacking, especially with AI's help. So,
27:15um yeah, educating people is a
27:18continuous battle more so than, you
27:21know, just like tightening the actual
27:23infrastructure.
27:24>> So, I've one last question for the
27:26entire panel before we wrap up, which is
27:28what's one advice you would give to the
27:30audience of what you should be spending
27:32time on and focusing on in the next year
27:34or so. And please keep it to about 30
27:36seconds.
27:36>> I mean, I'll just rehash agency,
27:39focus, communication,
27:43and quality bar. If you develop those
27:45four with AI and maybe add systems
27:48thinking as the additional thing, then
27:50you're going to do super well, I think.
27:52>> I would agree on AI, but not only use it
27:55use AI as the end product.
27:58Use AI as a mean to your end product.
28:01Okay, five coding, I used to hate it,
28:03and apparently I only hates the face. I
28:06actually like five coding now. So, like
28:08but the end product is yours, right?
28:10It's not depending on the AI anymore.
28:12You can build whatever you want in this
28:13world, create from nothing. And the
28:16second thing is always like this is the
28:18reality now. This is not a isolated
28:21industry. Look at your crypto portfolio,
28:24but at the same time look at the real
28:26world, look at equities, look at
28:27commodities, how to make the best
28:30investment decisions out of like all the
28:32market connected, and that would be the
28:34real opportunities for the next cycle.
28:37>> For me, it's risk management. If you're
28:38a builder or operator in the space,
28:41custodian of the funds, very important.
28:43As a retail trader, don't leverage up.
28:46>> Well, thank you so much for listening.
28:47This is it for this panel. Thanks a lot.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of The Next Crypto Cycle Will Look Different - TOKEN2049 Singapore 2026 by TOKEN2049, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 5,223 words across 789 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.