Venture Mandates, Cloudflare Wallets, Circle Earnings & Saddam Hussein Patek Philippe

What separates lasting winners from everyone chasing the next trend?

This week, we dig into why specialization may be the biggest edge in venture investing as crypto, AI, and traditional finance increasingly converge.

We discuss venture mandates, stablecoin competition, Circle's earnings, Cloudflare's agent wallets, and why reputation compounds faster than capital. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro

04:05 Crypto Venture Expands Beyond Crypto

09:20 Can Crypto Funds Go Generalist?

16:06 The Hidden Cost Of Dilution

22:43 Crypto Venture Enters Hard Mode

28:39 Ads (Peaq)

29:25 Cloudflare Bets On Agent Wallets

41:04 Is Circle Stock Mispriced?

53:04 Western Union Goes Onchain

01:02:13 Watches And Content Picks

01:09:01 Amazon Discovery Rewrites History

01:11:29 DAS Asia And London Preview

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EVENTS

› Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th

https://blockworks.com/events

DISCLAIMER

Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Any views expressed are opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.