As part of the Ardent Blockchain Education initiative, I was invited by the Stavros Center at my alma mater @USouthFlorida to speak on a panel tonight Topic is youth and gambling, and I’ll be the expert on crypto, perps and prediction markets

An executive dinner where compliance met liquidity. At L’Ardente, @MerkleScience, @arf_one and Stablecon brought together a carefully selected group of payment operators, liquidity providers, CEOs, founders, regulators, financial institutions and legal experts for dinner and candid discussion. Thank you to our co-sponsors @DuaneMorrisLLP, @utexocom, @AleoHQ, @yellowcard_app and @FiatRepublic.

I’m not really wired for random degen punts. If I size into something heavily, it’s because I’ve spent enough time on it to build real conviction. That was $WIF and $Bonk for me in 2024. That was $RUNE, $AAVE, and $SNX back in 2021. What was common among all of them? All went to billion dollar market caps. One thing I’ve noticed from talking to a lot of bigger solana:Dz9mQ9NzkBcCsuGPFJ3r1bS4wgqKMHBPiVuniW8Mbonk whales/top holders is how little interest there is in selling anywhere around here. And they are buying more at current prices which might seem high to most. These whales with serious size aren’t thinking about trimming for a quick 2x. Their targets are way higher. $5, $10, $20.... Some are talking $100 like it’s not even crazy. Why? Because according to them, solana:Dz9mQ9NzkBcCsuGPFJ3r1bS4wgqKMHBPiVuniW8Mbonk has all the ingredients to surpass $DOGE. Call it insanity, call it hopium or whatever - these are the kind of believers and ardent holders you need for a coin to go to unimaginable heights. Will it ever get there? Maybe yes. Maybe not. Most of us are betting on the 'Maybe yes' and that's what really matters. Obviously everyone has their own exit and profit taking strategy, but when the strongest hands still think the move is barely getting started, it makes you rethink what “too bullish” even looks like. Might be time to move those solana:Dz9mQ9NzkBcCsuGPFJ3r1bS4wgqKMHBPiVuniW8Mbonk targets up, anon.

Just some of the more interesting news I came across recently: 1. MS: Revised China humanoid shipments to reach 50,000 in 2026 from 14,000u and 28,000u earlier this year. 2. MS: Probe cards and test sockets likely to be priced hike (precious metal hikes + severe shortage of test pin capacity) 3. Capacitor price hikes: MLCC, aluminum electrolytic, tantalum, polymer aluminum, film, and super capacitors from Yageo. 4. $META Vistara architecture: Older DDR4 Memory with CXL as memory expansion 5. OpenAI achieved inference optimization breakthrough that halves costs and reduces GPU requirements. 6. LTAs are being signed with MLCC after Samsung signed LTA with US big tech customer 7. Grid power bottlenecks triggered 5x increase ($25B) in Brookfield's financing for $BE fuel cells. 8. Taiwan's chip packaging and testing supply chain includes major OSAT providers such as $ASX, Powertech, Winstek Semiconductor, Chipbond, ChipMOS, and ShunSin. Dedicated testing companies include KYEC, Ardentec, and Sigurd Microelectronics, while testing interface suppliers include WinWay, MPI, Keystone Microtech, Chunghwa Precision, and Hermes Testing Solutions. Leadframe makers include Jih Lin Tech, SDI, and CWTC, while major IC substrate suppliers include Unimicron, Kinsus, Nan Ya PCB, and Zhen Ding Tech. (Digitimes) - Taiwan-based OSAT providers are raising prices - Memory and IC packaging and testing capacity have both become bottlenecks in the semiconductor supply chain