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<v Speaker 1>Hey, it's Alex with the Token Metrics Daily Pulse for

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<v Speaker 1>March twenty ninth, twenty twenty six. Got a lot to

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<v Speaker 1>cover today. The macro story just flipped. Ethereum is back

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<v Speaker 1>below two thousand, and there's a fee war brewing in

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<v Speaker 1>bitcoin ETFs that you need to hear about. But first

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<v Speaker 1>a quick word from our sponsor. Okay, So here's what's happening.

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<v Speaker 1>So here's where we are. Bitcoins sitting around sixty six thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>ethereum back below two thousand dollars. And the reason both

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<v Speaker 1>of those numbers matter today isn't the prices themselves, it's

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<v Speaker 1>why they're there. Markets are starting to price in rate

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<v Speaker 1>hikes again, not cuts hikes. That's the flip. For the

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<v Speaker 1>last six months, the whole crypto bowl case leaned on

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<v Speaker 1>the FED cutting rates, lower rates, risk assets go up,

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<v Speaker 1>Bitcoin benefits. That story just got turned on its head.

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<v Speaker 1>Inflation is staying sticky, oil is elevated because of Middle

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<v Speaker 1>East tensions, and the Fed's hands are tied. Polymarket is

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<v Speaker 1>giving eighty six and a half percent odds that the

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<v Speaker 1>Fed doesn't move at all in June. That's not panic,

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<v Speaker 1>but it's not the soft landing trade. Anymore either. And

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<v Speaker 1>here's the uncomfortable part. When markets genuinely go risk off.

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<v Speaker 1>Bitcoin doesn't act like digital gold. It acts like a

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<v Speaker 1>tech stock. That's the setup we're walking into. So where

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<v Speaker 1>does that leave everything else? Pretty much in the red? Honestly,

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<v Speaker 1>Solana is down a few percent. The total crypto market

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<v Speaker 1>cap is sitting around two point four trillion. Nothing collapsed,

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<v Speaker 1>but nothing is holding up either. The one number worth

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<v Speaker 1>flagging is Bitcoin dominance, which is taking up toward fifty

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<v Speaker 1>six percent. That's the classic risk off signal within crypto.

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<v Speaker 1>When things get uncertain, capital rotates toward bitcoin and away

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<v Speaker 1>from alts. You can see it in the alt stack

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<v Speaker 1>XRP down, Cardono down, Bitcoin cash down, sharply DeFi total

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<v Speaker 1>value locked is basically flat near ninety three billion, which

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<v Speaker 1>tells you liquidity isn't fleeing yet, but it's not growing either.

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<v Speaker 1>And then there's the narrative data, which is honestly the

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<v Speaker 1>most interesting thing in today's numbers Deepen. That's decentralized physical

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<v Speaker 1>infrastructure networks, think things like wireless networks and sensor grids

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<v Speaker 1>built on crypto rails. Deepen is up over twenty six

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<v Speaker 1>percent in seven days meme coins up over twenty three

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<v Speaker 1>percent in a week where the broader market is read,

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<v Speaker 1>that's not organic adoption. That's capital chasing high beta narratives

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<v Speaker 1>while the blue chip layer ones bleed. Make of that

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<v Speaker 1>way you will, Okay, So here's the bigger picture on

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<v Speaker 1>what's actually moving the needle today. First story, the macro shift.

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<v Speaker 1>I already touched on this, but let me give you

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<v Speaker 1>the second order read. Crypto spent the last cycle being

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<v Speaker 1>sold as a rake cut beneficiary. That narrative is now wrong,

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<v Speaker 1>and wrong narratives unwind messily. The thing that makes this

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<v Speaker 1>tricky is that traditional safe havens are also faltering. Gold

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<v Speaker 1>is getting complicated, bombs are complicated, which sounds like a

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<v Speaker 1>crypto opportunity. But in a genuine risk off move, Bitcoin

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't catch the flight to safety bid. It catches the

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<v Speaker 1>sell everything bid. The sixty five thousand dollars level is

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<v Speaker 1>the one to watch. Polymarket is already giving better than

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<v Speaker 1>even odds that Bitcoin hits that level before the end

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<v Speaker 1>of the month. We've got two days left in March.

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<v Speaker 1>That's not a friend scenario. Second story, Ethereum is trying

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<v Speaker 1>to fix its fragmentation problem. Nosis and Zisk just announced

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<v Speaker 1>something called the Ethereum Economic Zone, a roll up framework

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<v Speaker 1>co funded by the Ethereum Foundation, with ave Titan and

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<v Speaker 1>Centrifuge already signed on. Here's what that means in plain English.

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<v Speaker 1>Ethereum has dozens of layer two chains that all call

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<v Speaker 1>themselves Ethereum, but can't really talk to each other. It's

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<v Speaker 1>like having forty different ATM networks that each only work

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<v Speaker 1>at their own machines. The Ethereum Economic Zone is trying

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<v Speaker 1>to build the shared infrastructure underneath all of them so

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<v Speaker 1>capital can actually move freely. The tell here is the

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<v Speaker 1>Ethereum Foundation co funding it. This isn't a startup moonshot,

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<v Speaker 1>it's the mothershit. Acknowledging the fragmentation problem is real. Abby's

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<v Speaker 1>participation matters, specifically because if the biggest lending protocol in

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<v Speaker 1>DeFi is building around this framework, liquidity will follow. Ethereum

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<v Speaker 1>total value locked is already near fifty three billion dollars

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<v Speaker 1>sitting across these siloed chains. Whether that capital starts moving freely,

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<v Speaker 1>that's the whole bet. Third story, the Clarity Act. This

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<v Speaker 1>one is quieter, but it might be the most consequential

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<v Speaker 1>thing on this list for DeFi. Specifically, an analyst at

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<v Speaker 1>ten x Research is flagging that the Clarity Act could

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<v Speaker 1>effectively ring fence DeFi token yields, meaning the revenue that

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<v Speaker 1>flows from protocols to token holders might need to route

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<v Speaker 1>through a regulated intermediary instead. Why does that matter, Because

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of DeFi tokens derive their value from exactly

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<v Speaker 1>that yield. You hold the token, you earn a cut

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<v Speaker 1>of protocol fees. If that mechanism gets legally complicated, the

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<v Speaker 1>token still exists, but the value proposition changes. The analyst

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<v Speaker 1>frames it correctly. This isn't a ban, It's a slow squeeze,

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<v Speaker 1>and slow squeezes are actually harder to trade around because

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<v Speaker 1>the timeline is uncertain. The stable coin bill is already stalled.

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<v Speaker 1>If Clarity also bogs down, you just get regulatory uncertainty compounding,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's its own drag on dfive valuations. Fourth story,

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<v Speaker 1>and this one is actually good news. Morgan Stanley just

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<v Speaker 1>set the fee on its spot bitpoint etf at point

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<v Speaker 1>one four percent. That undercuts every competitor currently on the market.

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<v Speaker 1>Blackrocks ibit charges point twenty five percent. GBTC still charges

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<v Speaker 1>one point five percent, which at this point is basically

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<v Speaker 1>a loyalty tax on people who haven't noticed. What this

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<v Speaker 1>signals is that Morgan Stanley isn't tree eating bitcoin exposure

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<v Speaker 1>as a niche product anymore. You don't price aggressively to

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<v Speaker 1>win market share in something you think is a fad.

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<v Speaker 1>You price aggressively when you want volume. Morgan Stanley has

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<v Speaker 1>roughly fifteen thousand financial advisors that distribution network pointed at

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<v Speaker 1>a point one four percent, bitcoin ETF could move meaningful

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<v Speaker 1>institutional capital. The question isn't whether this is good for bitcoin,

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<v Speaker 1>it is the question is what it means for every

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<v Speaker 1>other ETF provider who just got undercut and a few

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<v Speaker 1>quick hits before we get to risks. Sam Altman's World

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<v Speaker 1>Foundation sold sixty five million dollars in world Coin tokens

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<v Speaker 1>via over the counter deals while the token was hitting

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<v Speaker 1>all time lows. A foundation selling at the bottom either

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<v Speaker 1>signals desperation for runway or confidence the price doesn't matter

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<v Speaker 1>either way, existing holders are absorbing that supply. Senator Warren

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<v Speaker 1>is targeting bitmain over Trump Family Ties in a letter

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<v Speaker 1>to the Commerce Secretary, using the connection as a political

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<v Speaker 1>pressure point, which adds regulatory scrutiny to the mining sector.

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<v Speaker 1>Nys's parent company Ice finalized a one point six billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollar investment in Polymarket. Tradfi's largest exchange operator, now owns

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<v Speaker 1>a piece of crypto's biggest prediction market, which gives poly

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<v Speaker 1>Market institutional legitimacy that competitors can't easily replicate. And GameStop

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<v Speaker 1>is apparently exploring a Bitcoin covered call strategy, which is

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<v Speaker 1>either sophisticated treasury management or a sign that just holding

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<v Speaker 1>bitcoin isn't generating enough narrative momentum for the memestock crowd.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, before we get into the risks, quick word

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<v Speaker 1>from our sponsor. Okay, we're back. Let's talk about what

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<v Speaker 1>to watch for. So what should you actually be worried

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<v Speaker 1>about right now? Three things? First, macro repricing rate hike

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<v Speaker 1>expectations are creeping back in Crypto was positioned for cuts.

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<v Speaker 1>That positioning is now wrong, and wrong positioning unwinds messily.

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<v Speaker 1>Watch the next inflation print. If it comes in hot,

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<v Speaker 1>the rate hike narrative intensifies fast. Second, the leverage overhang

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<v Speaker 1>in alts XRP has rising funding rates into weak price action,

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<v Speaker 1>which is the setup that ends badly for longs. Bitcoin

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<v Speaker 1>cash is down sharply. Cardano is down. Solana is down

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<v Speaker 1>a few percent if one major alt breaks support and

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<v Speaker 1>triggers a cascade of liquidations. Contagion spreads faster in a

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<v Speaker 1>risk off environment. That's not a prediction, that's just how

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<v Speaker 1>leverage unwinds. Third, the Clarity Act. If yield restrictions pass

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<v Speaker 1>as written, defy token value a crule gets legally complicated.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a slow structural squeeze, hard to trade around, easy

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<v Speaker 1>to underestimate. The net read here is cautiously bearish until

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<v Speaker 1>macro data softens or the Clarity Act yield provisions get

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<v Speaker 1>amended or dropped. Both of those things could happen. Neither

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<v Speaker 1>is guaranteed. Looking ahead, here's what's on my radar for

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<v Speaker 1>the next week US inflation data. The PCE or CPI

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<v Speaker 1>release is coming in early April, and with markets already

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<v Speaker 1>prized for rate high risk, a hot number would validate

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<v Speaker 1>the hawk as shift and push Bitcoin toward that sixty

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<v Speaker 1>five thousand level. The Clarity Act goes to Committee markup

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<v Speaker 1>this week. Whether the yield restriction provisions survive will determine

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<v Speaker 1>if DeFi tokens face a structural repricing or get a

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<v Speaker 1>near term relief rally. And Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF launches

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<v Speaker 1>this week. The first week of flow data will tell

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<v Speaker 1>us whether fifteen thousand financial advisors can actually move institutional

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<v Speaker 1>capital at scale, or whether advisor adoption is the bottleneck

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<v Speaker 1>not cost. Three catalysts all landing in the same window.

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<v Speaker 1>It's going to be a busy week. By the way.

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<v Speaker 1>If you want daily market signals and weekly question and

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<v Speaker 1>answer breakdowns, check out token metrics Signal. It's our entry

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<v Speaker 1>level premium plan. Head to tokenmetrics dot com to learn more.

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<v Speaker 1>This is educational content, not investment advice. Always do your

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<v Speaker 1>own research. I'm Alex. See you next time.