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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>April fifth, twenty twenty six. North Korea ran a six

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<v Speaker 1>month con on a crypto protocol. Schwab is building a

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<v Speaker 1>way for its ten trillion dollars in client assets to

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<v Speaker 1>buy bitcoin directly, and Bitcoin is sitting at its most

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<v Speaker 1>hated sentiment level of the year. Let's get into it,

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<v Speaker 1>but first a quick word from our sponsor. Okay, so

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<v Speaker 1>here's what's happening. So the big story today isn't a

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<v Speaker 1>price move. It's a heist, and not the kind with

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<v Speaker 1>a keyboard. Drift Protocol lost two hundred and seventy million

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<v Speaker 1>dollars and it wasn't a bug in the code. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a six month North Korean intelligence operation. Operatives posed

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<v Speaker 1>as a legitimate trading firm. They met Drift team members

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<v Speaker 1>in person across multiple countries. They deposited a million dollars

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<v Speaker 1>of their own money just to look credible, and then

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<v Speaker 1>after half a year of building trust, they drained it.

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<v Speaker 1>That's actually, that's a completely different category of attack. The

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<v Speaker 1>crypto industry has spent years making the code harder to break, audits,

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<v Speaker 1>bug bounties, all of it. But this wasn't a vulnerability

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<v Speaker 1>in the code, It was a vulnerability in people. And

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<v Speaker 1>you can't audit your telegram DMS. Bitcoin is sitting around

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<v Speaker 1>sixty seven thousand, basically flat on the day the market shrugged.

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<v Speaker 1>The security story absolutely does not okay. So where does

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<v Speaker 1>everything else sit? Right now? Markets are quiet but quietly bleeding.

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<v Speaker 1>Bitcoin around sixty seven thousand, down less than half a percent,

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<v Speaker 1>Ethereum just above two thousand, off about one percent, Solana

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<v Speaker 1>down a bit more, trading around seventy nine dollars. Nothing dramatic,

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<v Speaker 1>but the direction is consistent. Everything is drifting lower. Bitcoin

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<v Speaker 1>is holding about fifty six percent of the total crypto market,

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<v Speaker 1>which means it's losing less ground than the smaller coins.

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<v Speaker 1>The overall crypto market is sitting around two point five

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<v Speaker 1>four trillion dollars. And here's the narrative split that I

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<v Speaker 1>think is actually interesting. Deep in Game five, AI, tokens

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<v Speaker 1>and mean coins are all up big over the past week,

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<v Speaker 1>like fifteen to twenty five percent gains across the board. Meanwhile,

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<v Speaker 1>the bigger, more established categories defy broadly in the major

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<v Speaker 1>smart contract platforms are down. So the speculative, higher risk

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<v Speaker 1>end of the market is catching a bid while the

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<v Speaker 1>blue chips bleed. Make of that what you will. Prediction

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<v Speaker 1>markets are painting a bearish but not panicked picture. Polymarket

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<v Speaker 1>has sixty seven and a half percent odds that bitcoin

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<v Speaker 1>hits sixty thousand before it hits eighty thousand, nearly a

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<v Speaker 1>million dollars in volume behind that bet. That's not a

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<v Speaker 1>fringe view, that's the consensus right now. The crowd is

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<v Speaker 1>positioned for more downside, all right, So what's actually driving

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<v Speaker 1>the mood here? Let me walk through the big stories. First,

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<v Speaker 1>back to Drift, because the details matter. This wasn't a

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<v Speaker 1>rushed attack. North Korean operatives spent six months building relationships

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<v Speaker 1>with the team, face to face meetings, real money, deposited

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<v Speaker 1>a convincing cover story, and then when the moment came,

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<v Speaker 1>they executed the dream two hundred and seventy million dollars gone.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's what changes about this and why it matters for

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<v Speaker 1>every crypto project out there. Every protocol that relies on

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<v Speaker 1>contributors meeting outside partners in person just inherited a new

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<v Speaker 1>category of risk. The takeaway is that insurance doesn't cover

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<v Speaker 1>social engineering. Audits don't catch it. The watch signal here

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<v Speaker 1>is whether Circle or Tether, the companies that issue the

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<v Speaker 1>major dollar pegged digital currencies freeze any identified addresses in

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<v Speaker 1>the next forty eight hours. That would be the first

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<v Speaker 1>concrete government response, and if Drift publishes a full report

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<v Speaker 1>naming the operatives, US Treasury sanctions could follow within thirty days.

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<v Speaker 1>That's the pattern from past North Korean crypto attacks. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>second story, and this one is genuinely bullish if you

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<v Speaker 1>zoom out. Charles Schwab just opened a weight list for

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<v Speaker 1>direct Bitcoin and Ethereum spot Trading, targeting a limited launch

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<v Speaker 1>this quarter. Schwab manages roughly ten trillion dollars in client assets,

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<v Speaker 1>not crypto assets total assets, which means when affirm that

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<v Speaker 1>size decides Spot crypto trading is worth building as a

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<v Speaker 1>real product, not just wrapping it in a fund, the

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<v Speaker 1>reach changes completely. Most retail investors don't hold their own

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<v Speaker 1>crypto keys, They trust their brokerage. Schwab just told its

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<v Speaker 1>entire client base you don't need a crypto native exchange anymore.

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<v Speaker 1>And here's the timing that gets me. They're building this

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<v Speaker 1>on ramp while bitcoin trades at its most pessimistic sentiment

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<v Speaker 1>level of the year. Schwab is constructing the parking lot

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<v Speaker 1>while the crowd is walking away from the building. Third story,

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<v Speaker 1>and Group's blockchain arm just launched a platform called Envita

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<v Speaker 1>that lets AI agents transact using stable coins in real time.

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<v Speaker 1>Think of it like giving AI software its own bank

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<v Speaker 1>account that settles instantly on crypto rails, no waiting, no

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<v Speaker 1>intermediary money moves the moment the transaction happens. Now, why

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<v Speaker 1>does this matter? Beyond the headline? Ant Group processes more

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<v Speaker 1>transactions annually than most countries' entire banking systems. If even

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<v Speaker 1>a small fraction of their software agents start routing payments

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<v Speaker 1>through crypto settlement, which means using digital dollars on a

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<v Speaker 1>blockchain instead of traditional bank wires, the volume of stable

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<v Speaker 1>coin transactions could grow faster than anyone is priced in.

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<v Speaker 1>This isn't a startup with a white paper. This is

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<v Speaker 1>one of the largest financial technology operations on the planet.

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<v Speaker 1>Deciding that crypto settlement is ready for production. That's a

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<v Speaker 1>different signal. Fourth Bitcoin sentiment glass nodes latest data frames

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<v Speaker 1>current positioning as maximum pessimism, the kind of reading that

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<v Speaker 1>historically either precedes a sharp relief rally or a final

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<v Speaker 1>capitulation flow. Hush both are genuinely possible. What's interesting is

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<v Speaker 1>that research from Mercado Bitcoin found that bitcoin tends to

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<v Speaker 1>outperform gold and equities after global shocks. We've had geopolitical escalation,

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<v Speaker 1>a two hundred and seventy million dollar hack, and macro uncertainty,

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<v Speaker 1>all stacking in the same week. If the historical pattern holds,

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<v Speaker 1>the setup is contrarian bullish. If it doesn't, those sixty

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<v Speaker 1>seven percent odds on sixty thousand start to look prescient

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<v Speaker 1>and quickly. Bitcoin's long term security model is getting some attention.

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<v Speaker 1>This week, there's a deep dive on quantum computing and

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<v Speaker 1>what it could eventually mean for wallet security. The honest

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<v Speaker 1>answer is the timeline is genuinely contested. The addresses most

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<v Speaker 1>at risk are old, dormant ones, including potentially sat toad

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<v Speaker 1>cheese coins. If those ever moved under quantum duress, the

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<v Speaker 1>psychological impact on markets would be enormous. This isn't a

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<v Speaker 1>tomorrow problem, but it's not a never problem either. Few

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<v Speaker 1>quick hits Mara Holdings, the largest publicly traded bitcoin minor,

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<v Speaker 1>cut fifteen percent of its workforce and is selling bitcoin

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<v Speaker 1>reserves when the most capital intensive participants in the ecosystem

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<v Speaker 1>start liquidating to cover costs. That's real selling pressure that

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't care about technicals. The IMF warned this week that

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<v Speaker 1>if financial assets move on to blockchain rails without proper oversight,

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<v Speaker 1>market crashes could spread faster than regulators can respond. Basically,

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<v Speaker 1>the speed of crypto settlement could turn a routine stress

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<v Speaker 1>event into a full blown crisis before anyone can hit

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<v Speaker 1>the brakes. Their fix anchor it to central bank settlement,

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<v Speaker 1>meaning traditional financial institutions stay in the loop and Franklin

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<v Speaker 1>Templeton just formed a dedicated cryptodivision with a two hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and fifty million dollars acquisition building while retail sentiment sits

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<v Speaker 1>near yearly lows. All right, before we get into the risks,

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

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

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<v Speaker 1>be watching? Risk One sentiment is at yearly lows, while

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<v Speaker 1>smart money is quietly building. Polymarket says sixty seven percent

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<v Speaker 1>odds on sixty thousand. Meanwhile, Schwab is opening waitlists, Franklin

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<v Speaker 1>Templeton is making acquisitions, and big institutions are constructing infrastructure. Historically,

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<v Speaker 1>when the crowd is maximally pessimistic, and the big players

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<v Speaker 1>are building. Someone ends up very wrong. It hasn't usually

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<v Speaker 1>been the big players. Risk two. The Drift hack rewrites

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<v Speaker 1>the threat model for DeFi, which means the danger is

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<v Speaker 1>no longer just bad code. A two hundred and seventy

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<v Speaker 1>million dollar loss through social engineering means the attack surface

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<v Speaker 1>is now people. Every protocol with pseudonymous contributors just inherited

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<v Speaker 1>a new category of operational risk that audits and insurance

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<v Speaker 1>don't cover. Risk three minor capitulation Mara cutting staff and

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<v Speaker 1>selling reserves at current prices is a signal if other

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<v Speaker 1>large miners follow in the next thirty days. The sixty

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<v Speaker 1>five thousand dollars support level gets tested from the supply side,

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<v Speaker 1>not from sentiment, not from technicals, but from forced selling.

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<v Speaker 1>Looking ahead, here's what's on my radar. The Drift post

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<v Speaker 1>mortem is the most time sensitive. If they publish a

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<v Speaker 1>full attribution report naming North Korean entities this week, watch

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<v Speaker 1>for US Treasury sanctions within thirty days and potential stable

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<v Speaker 1>coin freezes within forty eight hours. That sets a precedent

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<v Speaker 1>for how regulators treat state sponsored attacks on crypto protocols

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<v Speaker 1>going forward. Schwab's weightless numbers are the next data point

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<v Speaker 1>on real demand. If they report meaningful sign ups in

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<v Speaker 1>the next thirty days, Watch Fidelity and Merril to accelerate

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<v Speaker 1>their own timelines, and ant groups and Vita platform. If

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<v Speaker 1>it posts live transaction volume within sixty days, the thesis

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<v Speaker 1>that AI agents will use crypto rails for payments gets

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<v Speaker 1>its first real proof point. If it stays in demo

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<v Speaker 1>mode past Q three, file it under Enterprise Blockchain announcement

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<v Speaker 1>and move on. That's the daily Pulse for April fifth.

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<v Speaker 1>If you want the full written breakdown with all the

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<v Speaker 1>sources and watch signals, subscribe to our newsletter at tokenmetrics

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<v Speaker 1>dot com. Link in the show notes, and if this

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<v Speaker 1>was useful, share it with someone who's trying to make

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<v Speaker 1>sense of the market right now. This is educational content,

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<v Speaker 1>not investment advice. Always do your own research. I'm Alex,

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<v Speaker 1>See you next time.