# Crypto Apps Outperform Chains as Prediction Markets Surge

**Podcast:** The Milk Road Show
**Published:** 2026-05-19

## Transcript

I don't know what else to do with my life but to build something in this industry.
This episode is for you.
My guest today is the president of one of the biggest media companies in the space.
And like me, he's been a crypto podcast host for a very long time.
His positive energy infects everybody he meets.
And unbeknownst to him, we have actually been on a Twitter spaces years ago, five years ago together.
And I'm going to reveal that to him today on the show.
Farouk, the head of Decrypt Media, Myriad Markets, and the host of Rug Radio and FOMO Hour is on the show with us today.
Today's episode is brought to you by Cape, the privacy-first mobile carrier, Pharos, the layer one built for RealFi, and Nexo, earn interest, borrow, and trade crypto.
Farouk, what's up, man?
First time talking in five years.
I don't know if you remember.
It was the late-night spaces.
I love that.
Well, thank you for having me.
I've definitely seen you around.
You used to be around during the NFT days.
I have talked to a lot of people, especially late-night, on those spaces, but I do remember the name.
I do remember the Franco-Canadian name.
It was when Nate from OpenSea, when the accusations broke against him.
And like Deez and Peter Jennings and a few other guys were hosting a space and I hopped on and you were on.
And then I don't know, we're talking, I don't know, there's a few other people on, but we did briefly chat.
And that's a long time ago, man.
That is a really long time ago.
But good to see you again.
This will definitely be our longest conversation ever.
And I'm excited to dive into it with you.
Let's talk about...
Let's talk about what's going on right now, man, because I feel like you are such a magnet for kind of positive beliefs, for people really believing in the space.
And you recently tweeted something that caught my eye, which was that you refuse to convert to stocks and that you are in it in crypto for the long term.
Tell me about that, man.
That's a very interesting last couple of months for someone thinking about it that way.
Yeah, I mean, it's been a crazy cycle, I would say, or at least bear cycle right now.
I do think it's kind of like a, like this bear market is kind of more fun than the last 2022 one in a way, because there's still like a lot of opportunity in the air, right?
Like even like with the rise of prediction markets, which I'm sure we'll get into with Mirren and everything in a second.
So don't want to go there yet, but that's huge.
And this, during this bear and downtrend, they have been like only growing.
So there's that, which has added like this level of like fun, I guess, into the industry.
And then kind of like you and I were riffing off offline.
You have the hypes, you have the Zcash of this world, and you have a lot of fun things going on.
So while the market's not great, we are getting a lot of clarity in terms of the market in DC and regulation.
And at the same time, we do have more adoption, more institutional adoption.
People love to say there's no retail, but I actually disagree.
There's a lot of stuff going on.
So it's been an interesting one.
you know to um follow what do you tell like i feel like you know you're probably a very social person and uh i struggle with this as well like when you talk to people irl and you're and you explain what you do and they're like oh man crypto and maybe maybe you talk about prediction markets but when you talk about crypto like what and people like probably push back and be like man you know what the trade was was ai like what is kind of like what is your what is your argument there for crypto still having a lot of life going forward because i think a lot of people especially retail side are like listen man i'm not getting back into that i got torched at some point or like it's totally dead scams or whatever what is your current day like argument for like why this thing why why this whole thing we still have a lot of legs i mean all roads always lead back to crypto i mean i was talking about this you know on the timeline this past week you know everyone's like oh stocks this stock that ai there's a i don't like you like all roads literally always lead back to blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.
I don't know if you followed the latest like AP Swatch craze.
If that doesn't show you that there's always going to be an appetite for retail to like ape into something, if there is the chance of actually making a 2x return, then I don't know what will.
Right.
You've seen the Pokemon card craze, very similar to 2020, all time high Pokemon cards, open, sorry, One Piece.
TCG in general just popping off.
See a lot of crypto companies actually like NFT companies going to TCG as well and doing well.
So there's always going to be this will.
There's always going to be the need to make money.
I mean, the gap between the rich and the middle class, the poor is like getting even wider in a very sad way.
And like, you know, there's people are always going to want to come back, whether it's the casino, whether it's prediction markets, whether it's, you know, safer haven, high assets within crypto.
So I just think like the whole You know, the thing that, oh, crypto's dead, it's just cycles being cyclical.
There's always a return to this industry.
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Where do you think we're at right now in the timeline for crypto?
Right?
I think this has been a big debate and I'll give you a bit of context.
And one thing that we talk about on the show a lot, we've had a few different analysts come on and tell us we've actually been in it.
We actually started a bear market in early 2025 and that the data trade and some of the ETF inflows and stuff and people like Michael Saylor basically propped up the market, but that the bear market has actually been going on for much longer than we realized, despite all time highs and that now we're due to come out of it.
So that's one line of thinking.
The other line of thinking is the typical one like, listen, bear market started started early October.
on schedule before the four-year cycle with the 1010 dump and everything and then we got to wait you know at least a year for for greener conditions what's your view man like where do you think we're at i mean i'm a four-year cyclist uh i know a lot of people were that was quite contrarian to be the cycle you know people are saying for cycles are dead a lot of people i interviewed were saying first cycles are dead a lot of my friends were saying four-year cycles are dead i think obviously like they were all wrong not that they're not smart it's just like it happened right like the four cycle did not break clearly We have been in the bear market since then.
And so if you follow the four-year cycle theory, you know, we should be getting some momentum after the, around the midterms.
And there's also like so much data around midterms, like how like, you know, after this month, like maybe we go towards like a little lull and then, and then, and then we start, you know, ramping up.
Maybe we front run the midterms and midterms happen.
And then this business as usual and then the great 2027.
So I like to just like, I don't overcomplicate things, LG, you know, I don't like to get into like, oh, like.
crystal ball type shit.
Like I like to navigate the market as is.
I do think that it's nice to see a recent little uptrend on crypto in general in the last couple of weeks.
It's been nice to see Bitcoin hit, you know, $82,000.
Can it push higher?
I think it will.
And if it doesn't, it is what it is.
But, you know, in general, I think we're not in a terrible place.
Like if you compare it to 2022, we thought the industry was finished after FTX and SBF.
Literally, I had to ask myself like, yo, like.
Like, what's my future going to look like?
I'm sure you did the same thing, people around you.
Whereas this cycle around, I'm just like, okay, cool.
Let's just build.
And when the market comes back, the market comes back and we'll be even more successful then.
So I'm not too concerned with that.
But I do think that generally speaking, once the midterms are out of the way and obviously geopolitically, we're going through a couple of wars, whether it's Ukraine and Russia that has been endless or Iran and USA most recently.
Let's just go through all of that and then.
And then we'll see where the market takes us.
Hopefully there's not some other conflict.
Just simple things.
Yeah, simple things.
You know, just little things like that.
40 years just popped off finally.
And, you know, but look, like even the war news, like they're being like, they're being, you know, they're like, the war news are being silenced now in the charts.
Like every time, oh, the war may pop off again.
Bitcoin's like, I don't care.
So I think people are starting to kind of not care about this anymore.
Absolutely.
I do want to come back to talk about a little bit about stock market too, because it is something that we've seen a lot of people in our community, right?
People that are, I guess, I guess like CT, let's call it.
A lot of people did rotate and start to trade.
equities start to trade AI stocks, become experts in things overnight as we often make the same joke.
But is that something like, why would you not be tempted in something like that?
Especially if somebody runs like a large finance company, media company, where that has been the story.
I mean, it must still be interesting to you, especially if there's a lot of drama, man.
If you go to the very top, like between the Sam Altmans and the Elons and all that kind of stuff, there's a lot of really fun stories.
Have you been tempted at all?
And what do you even think about the AI trade at this current time?
I think the AI trade has been great for most people, but like what really is the AI trade?
I'm not too sure, right?
Like for me, like the most interesting AI trade has been probably VVV.
I didn't take it for what it's worth, but it's been really good to sell a timeline.
I think the AI slash crypto trade, so the intersection of AI and blockchain technology is far more interesting to me than just the AI trade because we don't really have access.
to the AI trade, right?
I know a lot of crypto loves to be like all focused on stocks and stuff.
And that's probably because of Hyperliquid in a good way.
I mean, to be honest, for me, it's great because I just own hype, you know, like on the picks and shovels type of play.
But I think for me, and that was always a hot take I had, I guess, for some reason, it's like blockchain technology is far more interesting than AI is.
I don't know why per se, but I just find the crypto space.
much more fascinating.
And I do think there's much more upside there.
Like what's your AI exposure that you're going to get as a retail investor?
You're not going to buy Anthropic shares of a trillion if you do like their fake shares, right?
Like you just saw they made a statement, et cetera.
You're not going to get exposure to those big coins, big stocks, et cetera.
So I'm just like, I just find, and maybe this is me refusing to leave my bubble, but I do think this bubble is like the best one.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Let's talk, you know, I wouldn't mind talking about a little bit about those hyperliquids as well and kind of more of that sector.
What in the space kind of excites you these days?
Because hyperliquid, it seems to be like really the top story in terms of being able to trade stocks where they're obviously as derivatives, but still something that I think we saw a lot of SEC news yesterday saying they're going to allow 24-7 stock trading, which would potentially spell good news for hyperliquid.
Obviously, there's a lot of other alts that people like to discuss.
What's kind of in your, not necessarily in your bag.
Farouk, but what is in your line of interest potentially going into a recovery towards the end of the year?
Yeah, I mean, the thing is, I pick my interest based on what is showing its hand.
I try not to be, oh, I, Farouk, like this more, therefore, that's the only thing that's going to work out.
And this is what's in my bag, in a way.
It's like I'm looking at what is performing well in this downtrend.
What's doing well when Bitcoin is going to 63K?
What is holding up?
When Bitcoin is going back to 82K, what's outperforming it in the double digits.
It's very simple.
What's been outperforming it is privacy, Zcash, right?
That's been the biggest narrative.
And by the way, I was not early to the trade.
So I'm not even going to sit here and claim, oh, it's early.
Like I saw Mert, et cetera.
Mando was taking the trade on the show at like a hundred plus all the way out to high.
I didn't join until like maybe the 300s.
I most recently just wrote again.
So I trade Zcash a lot in and out.
Even most recently, like I caught it on this dip two days ago at 500.
I think 501 was my price.
got all the way to like 600 so it's a fun coin to trade um because the market is so volatile right now i take my singles and my doubles right i took that from wiz he was like dude like when you get like a double digit percentage trade take it uh because we're not in the constant uptrend um but that's because i'm trading but if i were to just like build a bag in a way like hyper liquid greatest app i ever created in crypto i mean i believe the apps should be worth more than blockchains.
That's also another take I have.
Like for the longest time, I don't know why blockchains were valued at billions of dollars when there's nothing going on.
And I think the bear market has shown us this.
Like most blockchains are useless or at least shouldn't have a token and or shouldn't be worth billions of dollars.
But apps should.
Like for me, like poly markets should be worth more than Polygon.
And guess what?
Bang.
It is.
So point in case, right?
Hyperliquid should be worth more than, you know, the underlying chains, et cetera.
So, you know, very excited about the hyperliquid in general.
um very excited about zcash just for the privacy sake right uh it's got a good narrative um the whole like you know bitcoin has lost a cypherpunk narrative because it's institutional now which by the way there's a lot of truth to that right um so i kind of like that um and then i uh i you know me man i love my meme coin so i traded out a far coin not in them at the moment of the show but like i just like to trade them i think i love trading culture i love trading that stuff as in building my own app so um that's really what i'm looking at um at the moment but look like tomorrow there could be another narrative and and i'll be on that train it's just i think you know you have to um this is a market where you cannot marry a bag you cannot marry you know something you need to have your conviction of course you have to study the market but you can't just like you have to be aware like there's a lot going on Absolutely.
How often, this is actually curious, like how often are you trading right now?
This is, I feel like we're going, this is, okay, listen, people that listen to this and we usually have people on from institutions and we talk about Clarity Act and all that kind of stuff.
This is the point, you guys know, listening to me, this is the point where the show is going to diverge into degen territory, okay?
Because this is the real, this is the real show that Farouk and I should have been doing for the last five years is actually just talking about trading memes and NFT and shit.
But even, but even you're talking about like swing trading Zcash, is that something that you're kind of hitting?
And I love what you said about hitting singles and doubles.
I think that that's, great way to look at it especially if you are going to trade short term in this market is like don't look for these thousand you know thousand x kind of things they're there they'll be very few and far between but what is kind of your current approach to taking these little swing trades on zcash from like even just like a 500 to 600.
yeah i mean for me you know i i do i i have to say i've been trading quite a lot i think i've done i mean i don't know what it's compared to other people but i'm looking at my hyperlinks like I think I'm doing about $15 million a month volume on there, which is not crazy, but I've done, but it's not, like I've done what?
$155 million of volume on Hyperliquid since Q4.
Q4, I think.
It's, so I do.
What size are you trading with?
What, okay, hold on.
What's an average bet?
Somebody like Zcash, what's your, what, what, what's your, what's your leverage and what's your size?
I just need to know.
That's a great question.
I'm happy you went there.
I don't do leverage.
Oh, okay.
The last one I just did was 2x leverage.
So I guess I do leverage in that sense, but that's like almost breaking my rule.
My rule is not over 2x.
I don't like it.
I really do not like leverage trading because also like I'm a founder and I know we'll get there.
I'm way too fucking busy to like baby a position.
That's why when it's, when it's, when it's, and I do size.
So like position size will be anywhere from $100,000 to like $2 million.
And.
Like the latest Zcash one was obviously seven figures, but like, um, I could open like a year long for like a hundred, 200 K.
And the reason I do spot is because I do not have the mental capacity and or time to worry about a position that way.
At least if I'm down 10% on a spot position, dude, I don't care.
Like it doesn't matter.
But if I'm down 10% on a five X leverage position, then I'm like starting to sweat here.
Right.
And, and that's because I've lost way too much money doing that.
That's why I don't do it.
And I hate it.
I understand that I'm also in a position to be able to do that because when you can spot size, it's way better than doing leverage, right?
Like I'd rather put half a million dollars at 1x and 100k at 5x.
With that being said, I do think more people should adopt that and then focus on singles and doubles instead of going for the home run because getting 10, $10,000 winning trades is better than getting 100k winning trade because you're just nailed 10 of them in a row, right?
So arguably you have a better hit rate.
And you may lose it all after.
So it's just like, that's kind of how I've been approaching it in terms of bet size and trading frequency.
So it has been more often, but also one thing I've learned is I don't always have to be in a trade.
I am in no trades at the moment of this call, but just 12 hours ago, I probably had like $2.5 million worth positions on.
So it's just like, it's just, you know.
I'm not a whale.
I don't trade small either, but I trade more often.
I also do host a morning show, right?
FOMO hour every morning at 10 a.m.
Eastern.
That keeps me on edge.
So it's literally my job to know what's going on.
I report on news.
So it's like, I guess that's my edge and that's something I like and I'm really about it, right?
I'm not trying to host a show and tell people about coins and stuff and not fucking trade.
With that being said, there is a lot of opportunities in this market.
So I didn't hit any of the recent big meme coin runners.
because I don't want to trade them, but like Asteroid recently went to like 100 mil plus, 200 mil.
This past few months, you had a few runners that went with white whale, penguin, et cetera.
Like a lot of coins went to like 50 to $200 million range.
So even for the person that is like low bankroll, trying to go for moonshot, like there is opportunity in this market, which is why I'm like this bear market is not like the others because the others had nothing.
You had Pepe, he had Mog that went up and down, but like then it's sideways for like 10 months.
In this market, there's a lot.
You just have to be more on top of it.
Like even right now, Mee's running.
So NFT's running.
So, you know, I dabble as much as I can while building.
I like, I like that.
That's dabbling, man.
If that's dabbling, I don't know what the hell you'd call what I do.
If that's dabbling, I don't know what I, that's like, I don't do anything.
I, I, I, I love this shit.
It's also like, uh, you know, my environment, right.
I talk to Mando.
I talk to what is so Tyler, like everyone around me dabbles.
I mean, it is my full-time job and it is my life.
So I just, you know, I just love it.
Who's the biggest freak, you know, who's the biggest dabbler?
Especially at this current time, like the person you're like, man, that guy's nuts or that girl or whoever.
I mean, Mando's always trading size, you know?
Like that guy, that guy's always like trading cool, trade like grid bots, like fucking crazy AI, blah, blah, blah.
Like he'll be able to make like a million dollars in a day and then stop trading.
And then, you know, he'll take his losses, but he's arguably the best trader.
Why do people like that?
Why does Mando still do like shows and write tweets?
I don't understand about people that are just like, go out, like, I'll just make a million dollars trading this thing.
And then they're like, you know what I do need to do?
I have to close my trade because I have to show up on this podcast, you know, for like a couple thousand people to listen to it.
Like, I don't understand.
Then he starts a fucking casino, you know, shout out to Yeet.
Yeah.
Love of the game.
Honestly, I'm the same.
Let me return the question to you.
Yeah.
What the fuck else are you going to do?
Like, you know what I mean?
I mean, you were talking about raising and selling me and stuff, but beyond this, like, I don't know what else to do with my life, but to build something in this industry.
I've thought about it.
Like, first of all, there's nothing else I want to do.
I think we live in the most electric, fun.
We know about the news three days before your mom will call you about it or your sister or your cousin or a friend outside of the space.
Like, we are the most electric, like, industry ever.
like there is nothing else i want to do like even when i go out with i guess regular people i'm not as entertained in the conversation either right like my my brain doesn't get the same level of like you know um you know um i forgot the word but anyways stimulation stimulation excitement i'm not stimulated right when i talk to people outside the space so the question is really what else is there to do man you always want to back in Oh, man, that's the voice.
Every time I'm like, I got to take some time off.
I think that just pulsates for me.
I'm like, well, what am I going to do?
I'm just going to think about this the whole time.
Should I go on a kayak trip with friends so I can tell them about crypto?
That's how it feels for me.
Oh, isn't it?
I'm talking about it.
What was it like to crypto?
Yeah, that's great.
Okay, here's a question for you that I think a lot of people want to know.
And I've been asked a few times.
Actually, I still get asked a lot.
You know, years ago when you and I started in the industry, NFTs were a huge entry point for retail.
Very hot, cooled off naturally.
In the last run, there was meme coins.
There was like AI, somewhat legit kind of vaporware kind of stuff.
What do you think, Farouk, if you had to like throw some, and do not say prediction markets.
That's the next part of this episode.
We are going to talk about prediction markets.
But outside of that, I'm talking about like that type of asset, like NFT, meme coin, that kind of thing.
what do you think would be next right because let's say like 2021 was nfts 2024 was like meme coins ai 25 ish and then the next run whatever it is maybe soon maybe 27 maybe 2028 what what do you think would be this next thing is it going to be a hybrid of all that is there going to be some new thing that we're going to come up with that we can trade in a fun way like we have with those assets good question i mean I'm not going to say the obvious because there's a reason why we're building British markets because I believe that, but that's different because it's not, British markets aren't even the answer because it's not a meta, like meme coins and NFTs.
It's a multi-trillion dollar asset class in the making, right?
You saw NASDAQ, they're part of a polymarket, et cetera.
So it has nothing to do with that.
Is there going to be, like, meme, NFTs arguably were, like, the biggest onboarding event ever in the history of crypto, right?
And they were fun.
Meme coins, I was, I'll just read you exactly what I just told a bunch of friends, like, five minutes before we can do the show with you.
Oh yeah, yeah.
Give us the secret for real.
Literally, literally.
Alpha call group.
I was like, I was just talking to friends about NFTs and stuff.
And we're talking about how like simpler times, right?
It was so much fun to trade NFTs.
And I said, side of me thinks that's coming cycle will be more similar to 2021 NFTs and 2024 meme coins.
I'm not fully sold on this thesis yet, but a side of me just is starting to feel that way.
it's good that 2024 exposed just how much it sucked versus 2021.
And I think a lot of people love to say 2024 sucked versus 2021.
I think you would agree with that.
Me, I just make lemonade out of lemons.
I don't care.
I don't have an opinion on whether it sucked or not.
I made money.
I did well.
You either follow and adapt or you're going to get lost, right?
But I do have a feeling like people realize how much more fun NFTs are to trade.
Then meme coins, how much fun it is to participate within prediction markets, how much fun it is to dabble within apps within crypto.
So I do think like we're finally going to have like major breakout apps and that we're going to have more adoption in that sense and that people are going to use that more now.
It's a tough answer, dude.
How would you know?
There's no way to know.
I'm just throwing it out there.
What do you think it would be?
Also, like what else would there be?
It's like right now it's like RWAs, perps, prediction markets.
meme coins slash NFTs.
It's almost like in the same basket.
It's like, what else are we going to invent?
Like nothing else.
But now we have better access to perks.
We have better access to RWAs.
We're trading stock, tokenized stocks, et cetera.
So it's just like everything's finally getting tokenized.
Everyone's adopting blockchain technology.
Everything's going to be on chain.
And you just have pockets of people trading fucking Pokemon cards on chain.
And you have pockets of people trading NFTs on chain.
You have pockets of people trading meme coins, et cetera.
You know?
It's all one big thing now.
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Totally.
Yeah.
I think the general lesson there, and somebody told me this recently, is crypto is a way of making basically anything into a market.
And we've seen that even with the metas and that there's even you're saying, it's like, what else could it be?
It's like, well, crypto will find a way to make some other thing a market, you know, same as NFTs and meme coins.
you know, there will be another way to marketize something.
But dude, let's talk about Patricia markets, man, because you have been building Myriad markets for a few years now, jumping into the race with Polymarket and Kalshi, the big boys.
You guys just raised a seed round this week with some pretty big names, big names that we know from around the community.
What I want to know from you, Farouk, is like what sets Myriad apart from the other two?
What is kind of like your moat here?
How are you going to compete with them?
Well, first and foremost, I do think that a winner in this multi-trillion dollar asset class has not been chosen yet.
Like, you know, it's so young in the sense that Calci just got out of becoming legal and then there was the election and Polymarket just had its big election moment with major prediction markets huge.
And then both of them proved that it goes beyond just the election cycle, right?
But I think it's way too soon to say, oh, this is a winner.
Like, there's not going to be another one.
So like whenever we were raising, et cetera, I had like 200 calls with VCs and stuff and, you know, maybe 10% of those people like, you know, said yes, which is awesome.
Shout out to those 10%.
But the rest were always like, oh, there's not going to be another one.
Or are you going to be able to compete?
And my answer was the same thing I'm going to tell you.
It's like, first of all, a winner has not been yet picked.
Second of all, if we're talking multi trillions of dollars, then if I settle for third, then I have a multi-billion dollar company in my hands, right?
Like in crypto, in exchanges, there's Coinbase, Binance, OKEx, Bybit, BitGet, blah, blah, blah, blah.
fucking bajillion of them.
And now hyperliquid came out of nowhere.
It's taking everybody's lunch, right?
So there's always opportunity.
So that's my first thing versus like the big two.
Now back to why Marriott?
Because now, forget the two.
There's the next generation prediction markets.
There's a lot doing well.
Shout out to PredictFun.
It's my both dang.
Killing it.
I know the Limitless guys are doing good.
And there's a bunch of other ones that are coming out or have come like Worm doing leverage.
And to me, I just see us less as competition to everybody else, but just like as one massive industry.
And we each cater to our own set of individuals, right?
It doesn't require that many users to do a lot of volume.
It doesn't require just like as much as people think.
And for us, the edge was always media.
Like you said at the beginning when you introduced me, we own one of the largest media companies in crypto, right?
We own the Crypt Media, which is the second largest in terms of like website traffic after Coindesk.
Shout out to Coindesk as well.
and Rug Radio, which is kind of like the podcast arm to all that.
But we've pretty much merged the two of them fully over this past year.
I think that's one thing that we've been doing.
And we're the only media company with a White House press pass, the only person I've ever interviewed a sitting president regarding cryptocurrency.
And so this is access that we have that other people don't.
And that's our edge is the media.
And that was always the thesis is distribution.
Content is king, distribution is queen.
I've been in distribution for 17 years now, so my first blog is 14, I'm 31.
So I've been in the game.
And the way we got from zero to one here at Myriad is with zero dollars of marketing is just by using our native channels.
Now, obviously, like we need money to like market, which is why we're raising.
It's like, we got to start spending because you see how much probably market is spending.
Just they spend more on the chain for Ngannou than I've spent in marketing over the last fucking year.
Billions of dollars.
So yes, this is where we start needing the cash, by the way.
So this is why you're raising in prediction markets, which is ironic.
And so this is how we plan on doing it, you know, is just keep doing the way we're doing it, offering better UI, better UX.
If you go on Myriad right now, it is so freaking clean.
And if you're listening to this and you haven't been in a while, go check it out.
It's gorgeous.
Like I'm not even like, you can just go compare operation markets.
I do think we're the best looking in that sense.
And I think by offering a better experience, better liquidity, which is something that we're solving for, and then different markets, et cetera, is how you differentiate yourself.
So we'll see.
I'm very bullish on us, obviously.
We're a team of 30 people working on this every day.
So we'll see nothing.
The other thing is that we're dogs.
You were talking about this in the stew before.
You never stop.
How many teams have been as consistent as us when it comes to media production in crypto?
Honestly, is there two or three maybe?
We must be one of the most consistent teams in all crypto.
And I can say that with confidence because I've hosted 4,000 fucking episodes for more hour at this station.
So it's like, you know, we're going to see this through, dude.
I have no doubt.
And I think that that's the kind of thing that investors look for, especially in a founder.
So, you know, explains a lot of your seed round.
A lot of people there is that, you know, you will be relentless in this pursuit.
And I think that that matters so much in this industry and also when you're building a product.
what i think i think maybe a question that i have and maybe a lot of other people have as well in terms of prediction markets overall is um both their future but also their valuations right and myriad i don't know what your seed raise was at but i think people see like calci valued at 22 billion dollars like is that realistic you know and i think that that's it is like and i think i want to know from you like i feel like you you believe so but maybe you can explain that a little bit more that to us especially these days you know if you put on the crypto mindset A lot of the top performing apps these days are revenue driven.
That's the big question.
We talk about the other big, big companies in the world, like OpenAI Anthropic.
The big question for them is like, how will they ever make enough money to justify these insane raises?
And I think the same lens is being put onto prediction markets these days, especially those big ones raising at those huge valuations.
So I want to know from you, Farouk, like clearly you really believe in the growth of this space.
So maybe detail that a little bit for me, how they can live up to those and how this.
how this space grows, how the prediction market space grows into retail and beyond.
Yeah, I mean, for the longest time, Polymarket was just like, until recently, right, was like burning cash, like crazy, until they turned on the revenue fee, and now they're killing it.
They're seventh in terms of revenue I'm checking right now in 24 hours on DeFi Llama.
So they're up there, right, in the top 10.
They're killing it.
Calushi's making a fuck ton of money, by the way.
Like, I think it's like 100 mil annualized or something, maybe more.
CalShea makes a lot, like a lot.
This is why in the last raises, Polymarket fetched like 15-ish and CalShea raised 22.
At 22 is because CalShea is making a lot.
Like they're a proper regulated, like KYZ, fucking fees everywhere and stuff like that.
So they make a ton of cash.
What do I think about the valuations first?
They're crazy now, but there will be a prediction market that will be worth $100 billion in the next 18 to 24 months.
I'm not going to say which one because I don't know.
But there will be a prediction market worth $100 billion, at least one.
And there will be several ones worth over five.
Polymarket right now in the secondaries is fetching about 14.5 bill.
And I know people personally that are like setting up SPVs to buy that.
So like people believe.
First of all, you know how the market works.
If someone is willing to pay that, it's worth that.
Period.
End of story.
People are willing to pay 14.5 billion secondaries for polymarket.
Then it's worth that.
People are willing to pay.
primary fucking $22 billion raise on CalShin, that's what it's worth.
And it's only going to get bigger because I think people generally see the vision.
Like people outside of crypto, because these are most like outside crypto investors, by the way, are seeing the vision.
They're seeing the revenue path, the path to revenue.
These companies have massive burns, but their burns are media, right?
Their burns are marketing.
they're spending, I don't know how much money to be Serie A partner, NHL partner, NBA partner, NFL partner.
So they're F1 partner.
Everywhere you know, there's a fucking prediction market not buying ads on TikTok, on Instagram, on YouTube, everywhere you go.
It's like all over the place.
Sometimes it's a little too much, but it is what it is.
So I see it, dude.
Like I know it sounds crazy, but we're talking about a potential multi-trillion dollar asset class.
There was a point in time where actually like prediction markets were bigger than the stock market.
uh back in like 20s and stuff so it's not a new thing right prediction markets but i i see the valuation i i i genuinely see it um just so you know like behind the scenes all the next generation prediction markets are not fetching anywhere close like poly and cal she's like uh multiplier so just like this these two are outliers right like by i kind of know a little bit about like how much was raised across the board and how much for for for other prediction markets and i'm sure they know about us too it's nowhere close like we're talking like fucking 200x less type thing.
Like we're talking 200 to 300x less.
So yes, it's true.
They are outliers.
I do think it's like wild when you see prediction markets like Calci being worth more than like a DraftKings by a lot right now, by the way.
But I also see why if you really understand that this is like the future of like contract and options, et cetera, like the CFTC is going all in on it, NASDAQ, SEC.
So I can see it.
nice nice okay yeah i mean i agree with you i think i i i was what would you say i have to believe it you have to believe it no no i agree no no it's good that's what i wanted to hear for you man what's actually here's a question for you on myriad what do people trade on myriad what do people like to trade what's the main thing people are into because we've looked at this on calcian polymarker what do people like to trade on your platform um i mean people like to trade these like you know we had this 15 minute candle markets i think before everybody but we're obviously like way smaller so when polymarket came out with it like dude like everybody went to polymarket which is fair game you know we're the small fish in the big pond right now um people like to trade they'll trade anything that that that is uh that's like that's remotely tradable, man.
It's so funny, but people ask me all the time, what's your favorite market?
It's like political markets, they'll trade it.
You put sports, they'll trade it.
You put like a Zcash market, like up or down market, they'll trade it.
One fun one was like KBM versus Mando.
So they put a hundred K each, whether Bitcoin's got a hundred K or 80 K first, KBM won, but that market was like going for a while.
I think we did one or $2 million in volume on that.
So PVP markets are doing well.
We have a ton of world cup stuff coming because people keep asking for it, but.
It's funny.
It's just like, honestly, dude, if the platform is good, people like to bet and predict on almost anything.
There's never really a category that's like outlier.
Sports and crypto are obviously the biggest, but then, you know, politics and stuff.
I find it way more fun, personally speaking.
But sadly, I think the market goes towards the same stuff all the time.
I think there's something wrong with your site, man.
Look at this.
What is this all about?
This is the Stanley Cup odds.
at the start of the conference finals and you're and the Montreal Canadiens are fourth in odds behind the other three teams man how is this even possible well first of all what the hell is this order saying why why is the order off I'm gonna tell my devs right now yeah come on man what the hell can the devs please do something it's an alphabetical order That's Carolina, Colorado, Montreal, Vegas.
Let's just open up the Montreal one, man.
Only 12 cents to win the cup?
Dude, what's going on over there?
11 cents on Pauly.
So, you know, myriad, myriad believers.
That's how the fluke influence.
Listen, like myriad, my abs are the underdogs.
And against all odds, they're going to win the Stanley Cup this year.
You know, I've got some money on them winning the Stanley Cup.
I'm really happy that we have that on Myriad.
So maybe I'm going to go do some influencing there.
People know I'm a diehard.
But dude, it's funny, man.
That's why you have stuff in a diverse portfolio.
And that's why liquidity is really necessary.
That's one thing, obviously, that we lack most of.
Because you have all these market makers, et cetera, that you have to work with.
And that's all coming along.
It takes time.
But dude, I promise you people will trade whenever it's tradable.
It's just like crypto.
People trade meme coins and then they'll trade Bitcoin and then they'll trade Zcash.
Then they'll trade like a Pokemon card TCG and a gacha machine.
It's crazy.
But like, you know, cause I get asked a lot, what are the top stuff?
And same shit, man.
People just, you know, people just want to trade.
They'll go.
There's no, also there's no, that's why it also goes back to you asking me like about the top two, et cetera.
Like there's no loyalty in crypto.
Like people follow wherever they can make the most money, wherever there's an ARB.
was some of these fees etc or airdrop you know it's crazy it's super like mercenary type of industry and that's where you live love it so much man that's why you're here i love it i i love it dude i wouldn't trade it Well, Farouk, man, it's been good to chat with you, man.
Best of luck with Myriad.
Congrats on the success.
And, you know, when the trenches return, although there are, there is some good transaction right now on base and a few other spots.
There's a good, there's a good, a few good NFT minutes lately.
Not the same, but a couple of singles and doubles to hit.
Let's put it that way in the trenches.
Singles and doubles.
Singles and doubles.
You know, that's it.
But listen, man, when there's the next big meta, whether it's Pump, another Pump Fun, or another virtuals or NFTs or whatever it is, I'm sure we'll be together again on a show to go through it all.
So great to chat with you, man.
Good luck to the Habs.
And thanks, everybody, for listening.
Check out Myriad.Markets is the site if you want to check out what Farouk is building.
Otherwise, man, I'll see you next time.
Appreciate you, man.
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