JP Richardson on Exodus, onchain stocks and AI wallets

Transcript

DM good morning welcome to the milroad show The Daily crypto show where we deliver insights that age better than your bank account against inflation it's February Friday February 14th Happy Valentine's Day everybody I'm your host Jay Hamilton and today we are joined by JP Richardson CEO of Exodus one of the best crypto wallets in the space longtime founder on the show and we had to get JP on the show because we've been talking a lot about this trend of IPOs coming for crypto companies in America and JP's company was one of the first to IPO in the US Exodus is already ipoed and we got a great story here folks so sit down grab some milk or a coffee with

some milk and get ready because JP had dinner with Trump in September and we want to tell you guys about that dinner but also how that dinner happened what led up to that dinner and then what it means for mean coins crypto and really the whole space as we go into 2025 and the future and all the political changes and the regulation that's coming a lot to break down here today now today's episode is brought to you by consensus consensus Hong Kong is next week if you guys want tickets 15% off if you use the code milk Road hit the link in the show notes today's episode's also you brought to you by crypto.com credit card one of my favorite credit cards highly recommend you guys check it out if you guys want to sponsor us we are always

looking for partners of products that we love that we support that we think should get in front of our fans so if you're a crypto project or crypto company and you want to partner with milk Road check out the link in the description to send us a message and we would love to talk about partnering with you with that let's bring on our friend JP Richardson welcome to the milk Road Show Jay thanks for having me and Happy Valentine's Day to you as well my friend thanks man appreciate it did did you did you get your girl roses what what' you do for Valentine's Day oh you know what there's actually there's actually kind of a funny story here uh so so last night she was she was saying she's like you know JP you know you know what I what kind of an animal I would really

like actually take care of and love to have and and you know I I had no idea where this this was going and and she she goes I would love to have a turtle I'm like you gotta be kidding me a turtle what a turtle and so all of a sudden she goes to YouTube and she starts pulling up these videos of turtles and she's like oh look how cute there's a turtle sneezing look at this and I'm like oh my gosh oh my gosh and I didn't say anything at that moment but I this today I started calling around all over town of every pet store for hurles and I I tell you what three okay first three stores I called they were sold out

of turtles which is wild that what yeah they'd be S sold out of turtles uh but the fourth P the fourth store I called they they said we've got three turtles so I'll tell you what later today I'm gonna go in no way I'm gonna buy I'm gonna buy two turtles for her and I'm going to deliver I'm G bring these Turtles home tonight and I'm gonna hand her these Turtles and and she's I hope I hope she loves it I hope she wasn't kidding because guys this this is amazing JP good for you man you know how to treat your girl right I don't think I thought you were gonna say you bought her a turtle meme coin that's what I I I would just gone out and look for some turtle mem coin and been like here you go honey oh that's great I just got my my wife

roses so uh I'm not nearly as excited with you honestly I don't think I would have if she had said she wanted a turtle I would have been like great not not here not in this house okay let's we digress um let's talk about uh Exodus and let's let's start with okay you had dinner with Trump in September yes G give us the the the quick quick story on uh on that what was that like uh and then and then we'll back up to how that actually came to be oh my gosh uh okay so the the dinner was in it was in Trump Tower and and I and I knew that there was going to be other donors there I knew it was going to be a small intimate dinner but I didn't know which other donors I didn't know if they were in the

crypto industry or or not and and and so I I I show up and I'm in the lobby and there's three other donors and and and these guys are all talking about their um they're talking about Finance they're talking about uh Palm Beach and and just all these things I'm like wow like you know here I am talking these Don like this is this is really cool um and and so we go up go up the the the elevator and there's another Resident in the building and I start talking about Exodus I start talking about crypto and just coincidentally this other person uh that was you know not a donor but lived in the building was in the elevator he's like oh whoa uh you're you're a part of Exodus and I'm like yeah I I co-founded Exodus I'm CEO and he's like oh wow yeah

I use exodus and so that was really cool for these guys that were not crypto guys to uh to to hear about Exodus and here's somebody else uh that's using Exodus so so we're going up the elevator and you know opens up and and you know it's kind of the it's the floor that's only the Trump floor and of course naturally there there's you know Secret Service agents just you know making sure everything's you know safe and and and good and and then you know there's this big this is on the other side of the door you can see it right here this big large door that that opens up and in the living room and anybody go Google these images living room is filled with like this this gold Motif and uh it's just it's it's just kind of amazing you're

like wow like here I am in in uh you know Trump's living room and with these three other donors and kind of looking over uh the the New York skyline um but but all said it was it was it was just a really fascinating experience to be able to tell our story because as you alluded to the whole reason I I got to this point of of donating to Trump and and and getting into this was because I felt that what was happening in the United States was um the Regulatory Agencies were against crypto and that I had to do something especially I there was a consideration I thought like maybe what happened in May to us was political which we we'll we'll talk about in

in a little bit but to the actual dinner one of the things that people ask me they'll like is Trump like is he act like real funny guy in person and the answer is like yes he's he's really funny and and he loves to um he kind of loves to to to poke at people and and and and Rise them a bit and um and it's just it's it's fun to kind of experience experience that in in person but I could talk a little bit about his his reaction after I maybe share uh some of the background and story of how we actually let up in into yeah so let's let's let's go let's rewind back here so take us back to may I guess is

probably where this story start maybe set a little bit of context on Exodus and how you guys were pushing to be a American C public crypto company uh because you guys had some challenges and wasn't easy for you uh under the old Administration so tell us about that yeah let let me actually rewind just a little bit more to 2021 and and for those of you that don't know so in 2021 we're the first company in the United States where individuals could could download Exodus and this was an SEC qualified offering and and they could buy Exodus stock directly inside of of Exodus wallet so you could buy stock with Bitcoin ethereum or

usdc and so that's where started and that again that was all it was an SEC qualified offering through what was called the regulation a now our stock after after this moment our stock was digitally rep or is digitally represented um as a as a token on on algr and so it's actually common stock that means a retail person can can own the stock in on the blockchain inside of exus wall so this was all back in 2021 which is which is so ahead of its time like I I think people don't realize how you guys were you were almost too early to be honest like to a bit to your own detriment right like this year this is coming right tokenized equities

tokenized talks but you guys anyway so just to set that AB absolutely it's coming and the reason we did this for anybody that's transferred stock from from one brokerage to another brokerage it's called an aat transfer it is it's a mega pain you got to fill out forms in some scenarios you actually have to print a PDF and and fill it out and then they want you to mail it in they make it real hard for you it's just it's a paint and so we were thinking like wait a second number one what if we create a platform where people can do this directly inside of ex's wallet because we have 5.5 million customers what what if we what if we do it that way and number two what if we make it so that

transferring stock between individuals is as easy as transferring crypto now of course there there's some regulatory framework behind the scenes that that makes it so that this is possible but still makes it as easy as transferring crypto so that was ultimately the reasons to why we did this now what we didn't recognize is that early in this process that Our intention wasn't actually to become like a full-fledged public company and you know I'm going to do the earnings calls every quarter and we're gonna we're gonna file with the SEC like that was never the intention and I don't know if knew that in advance may maybe it wouldn't have gone down this path who who knows I I don't know but that's how it happened

and so as we were kind of marching down this path we did the offering in May in 2021 uh we realized like oh wow the actual there's actually limits on um the regulation a where they give you an exemption like re Revenue exemptions and so in in 2021 and this is all public um our Revenue ended up being 95.8 million and and so we exceeded the exemptions and so that it count basically kicked off like a two-year clock where which that meant that we had to file as actually a public company with the same regulatory requirements that Google Amazon Apple that they have and and so we're like oh wow okay so we're going

down this path and and so that's that's that's what happened because you know it's it's it's the law you you got to do it so we filed all the paperwork for this and that ended up being early of um the filing may have been late 2023 or early 2024 and and in this filing it's it's kind of unorthodox how this all happened but you can do the filing and you we already had the SEC review for our stock to be to retail and so it doesn't actually require like the SDC to go and and actually do like an IPO like we're going to look through everything and we're going to so it's just a formality this filing is exactly exactly and so the New

York Stock Exchange understood that and they said Yep this this looks great come come uh ring the bell and and let's you you can uplist your stock directly into the New York Stock Exchange and we're like this sounds wonderful let's do that and and so we did that this was early May of 2024 and so we're like this is great we're gonna you know list in the New York Stock Exchange we flew out 130 uh people friends family employees just to celebrate this moment a banquet One World Tower the the whole thing right it couldn't have been any more perfect and so the actual date was May 9th May 9th that was when we're goingon to do all this May 8th I find

out that it's not going to happen and I I got a call from our our our CFO and he's like they pulled the plug I'm like what do you mean they pulled the plug pulled the plug what pull the plug what are you talking about like we're we're out here like we're all out here we're here we got the One World Tower book tomorrow like looking for the stake at the One World Tower like we're here here we are it's like no they they talked to the SEC the sec's got concerns about the fact of that we have that that the filing hasn't been treated like an IPO where the SEC actually does the formal review like we already did that in 2021 and that's what the law says too it's like I I know I mean and so we're like

this can't be happening this can't be happening oh my God so at that moment in time I you can imagine how devastated I felt and so to go to the company the team and and I remember I never I walked in the door and you know I had there were some of the leadership team they were meeting and talking about some of the strategy for the year and they could see just the the the the Devastation Devastation in my eyes they just see they could just see it and they're like what what's wrong everything okay did you Turtle die yeah K tur yeah and like guys I got bad news the the listing is not happening

tomorrow and it was just the W the room was just just dead pan silent and you can start seeing tears in people's eyes and so that was one of like I got goosebumps some my arms right now even telling the story that was one of the hardest days of my professional career now I will say I will say that leading in to the next day May 9th even though we did not end up ringing the bell or lising on the New York Stock Exchange it still ended up being one of the best days of my professional career because as a remote company that has employees all over the world we were able to come together and celebrate a record quarter anyways

and so as any Observer would have have seen it they would have they would have thought like wait what what what happened you know what IPO of the morning or anything like that or what New York Stock Exchange listing they they wouldn't have known people were so happy to be together which actually that was great however of course the next day I'm like I'm not just GNA let this rest and on behalf of shareholders I gotta figure this out and and so then I I just remember I think it was May 9th or May 10th when Trump was at the libertarian convention and he's like we are going to protect Americans right to self- custody I'm like wait what and so that's kind of the lead up

into where where we get with with the dinner where we go next and and I'm guessing you probably weren't given much of an explanation you were probably just told it's not happening right you probably and you probably don't in in these cases you feel like not only you blindsided you probably feel completely helpless and like Hey where's my rights here right like this is just totally taken away from you which really sets the the stage for the political landscape that we were in and how much that regime was pushing everything down across the board from you know all the wells notices they were throwing out

stopping you guys from IP yoing etc etc okay so so now take us up to uh the the Trump dinner and then let's I I don't want to skip too fast through the the the rest of it but I want to get to more like what we think happens next for the rest of this year so let's but let's finish the story first yeah yeah yeah yeah you bet so so this happened and I was thinking I was like wow this is to your point like the what's going on here yes the sccc is telling us that they want to treat it like an IPO and they want to do a diligent review that that's what they're telling us but I see as as you see and everybody else saw all the wells notices and all the stuff and I'm like I feel I'm I'm concerned here that

this might be some sort of trap of some sort I I don't know I I will at least comment that on this particular process the the staff at the SEC the Frontline staff of the secc throughout this entire process actually maintain full professionalism and they actually stuck to the word in the way of of actually diligently reviewing it but at that time I didn't know that still thought like maybe there was some political motivations here I I didn't know and so then I was asked uh it was so kind of fast forward into to June um or maybe it was early July right before the Bitcoin Nashville conference I was like wait a second okay so Trump's he's raising money and I was asked to donate money to

Trump and his campaign uh and I said yeah okay I I'll donate and and I I saw that like you know they were asking I think that the max that you could donate at that time from an individual was I think it was $884,000 and you know we're not we're not in the bull market yet so $884,000 is I mean that's a lot of money right that's a lot of money and uh and so I'm like oh wow okay and and the company couldn't do it legally the company couldn't do it uh because there's all restrictions on company money from an individual there's less restrictions so I'm like okay and they're like you're going to be able to meet him at the Nashville conference and then we can set up another meeting like a more personal meeting and and so I

said okay let's let's do it and and so I was able to first meet him at the Bitcoin conference and um get a picture with him and um and that's just you know so fast like you're kind of in and out picture you know and then that's over and there's kind of a little conversation of a much bigger bigger group so so get the picture and have a little kind of there's like a round table meeting like 40 50 people at the Nashville conference and then that was that and then then it was scheduled maybe you know for September where they're like hey we would like you to come meet Trump at Trump Tower and you can tell this story to him about what happened and I'm like that that sounds incredible I would love

to do that and they're like okay it's come on out so I I went out there and I'm sitting at this long dining room table eating mashed potatoes and and the the Stak how many people are at this dinner is so so Trump myself three other donors and then the organizer wow okay so this is very intimate very very very intimate dinner and and and so he start he's like okay guys you know tell me about your businesses and I I just went in with the story of what happened and like look we're we're you know a crypto company that was you know born in Nebraska right and how many people hear that right like it's either you know the valley or New York or or whatever right but born in Nebraska and and we have these you know number of of employees in

the United States we were going to do this listing and we're gonna ring the bell and it was big excitement and he's like wait a second you you still got a list right they just didn't let you ring the bell like no Mr President they they stopped everything and and another one of the the donors jumped in he's like yeah he's like Mr President we have seen IPO activity just fall off a clip and and he was just so surprised that that actually could happen in America and that that it would play out in this way so that that's how it went through with with with the dinner and

um just you never you never uh I remember um Mark and dreon went on Joe Rogan a few months ago and talked about a lot of uh the companies that he invested in a lot of crypto companies getting debanked did you ever experience any de banking we did but it was it was we had we had enough bank accounts that even being debanked from one account didn't have a material impact to us you did you did get debanked you did have it was Wells Fargo I'll say it it was Wells Fargo Wells Fargo debanked us yes no way and you personally or the company the company wow yeah the company the well far you personally never you never that's a good question because I

did have a personal account there so it is I don't remember I don't have a personal account there anymore so it could have been like I I'm like you guys You're Gonna Cancel my my company account I'm Gonna Cancel my personal account or it was you got like they cancel my personal account too I don't remember that I just remember they cancelled our company account wow yeah this is these are the things that I don't it's very hard to conceptualize for our listeners and even myself the the the weight that was pushing down crypto and Tech innovation in America in the last political regime it is it's it's it's it's so it's so much bigger

than I think any of us realize and that's where everybody is like especially right now like there's such a like a negative sentiment sort of in the crypto space from a retail perspective because everyone's like why are my bags not higher and all coins are struggling but it's like I just sit here and I'm like man you're so impatient just be patient what is going to come in the next four years and even in the next 3 to six months people don't even realize how the floodgates are really opening okay let's I want I want to talk more about what I'm talking about right now but just to finish the story wrap up wrap up the story what happened yeah so just just real quick with the like to your point of the banking uh early on there we had to like we we pay all of

our salaries in Bitcoin and so that's that's pretty uncommon for crypto companies but we did that early on to to create this insulation knowing that there might be struggles in the future and so knowing that our employees would still be able to receive an income for for working at the company so that provided insulation so to the rest of the story so so we had that we were able to tell them the story and I think that was at minimum just to let him know about the problems that were happening in the regulatory landscape with with the the SDC um I think that was helpful but again I will I will at least say that from the Frontline staff that that we worked with on a regular basis they did actually diligently it the review

took a while it took a while but they did do the diligent review and step by step by step by step now it actually they they finish the review post the election so it's tough to say if there was any political aspect to it behind behind the scenes or or or not um but you know post elction and they they finished the review and so we had the option to say like okay we can list on the New York Stock Exchange and we can ring the bell on the same day and that's what most companies do and that's what we plan to do on May 9th but I said to the team like nope no we're gonna separate these I'm not I don't risk fo

me one you know I'm like I'm not gonna have this happen again so we SK the listing actually happened on December 18th and then we we planned the actual bell ringing the opening bell ringing on January 88th and so we were able to to to go out there on January 8 ring the bell and and officially like celebrate being the first American company to list on a public exchange and then have our stock digitally represented on a blockchain which is huge and I just so we were the first but there's going to be many more to follow any any predictions for how many crypto

IPOs we might see this year this year I think that we will see at least five because bear in mind and and and here's here's why I say five because five might sound kind of low to to some listeners the reason for that is that it was heavily dependent upon the election so if you're a company you're like you see the election you know Trump wins Pro crypto candidate wins all of a sudden you know like okay we are in a crypto-friendly environment now and in in more of a business friendly environment let's get our filings together and to do that takes

months alone and then once you submit the filings that takes another six months of SEC review so I in anticipate that you probably say about five but I think you know the markets continue to stay strong in into 2026 I I mean for for crypto companies I mean we could we could easily see you know 15 20 plus in in in 2026 and and the in impact of that can't be understated because you are legitimizing crypto to the trafi market the more public companies we have and we had coinbase earning report just

happened yesterday and that is that's huge for all of Wall Street to sit there and be like whoa that's you know that's how much coinbase made last year that was their profit like uh oh wow we we did not think that would happen I don't think Wall Street is not ready yet to see how crypto comes in and eats most traditional decks like coinbase to their credit they have they've built they've built a great platform and you know I may disagree with some of the the decisions of focus on a base and evm Lev two things like that but they have still to their credit they have built a great platform that has attracted a lot of of people and and

so you know if if I'm like a JP Morgan you know the biggest bank in in in the world one of the biggest banks in the world and in the biggest bank in America like I I know because they're the biggest they're not scared but they should be they should be scared that coinbase is going to come in and and and start eating their lunch and and other companies like Exodus we're gonna be doing the same thing except we're just really focused on the self- custody aspect but if you think about it for a consumer to like think about signing up for a bank account today when you go into a bank like hey I want to sign up to a bank account they're like okay yeah give me all your forms and you know take your time you know and it takes it take

at least a good half an hour to do it and and it just it's just so slow and Antiquated right but with a crypto wallet all you need to do is just download it to get started and for a consumer you can start building a portfolio and you can start you know you get some salana you get some ethereum you get some Bitcoin but with your salana you can start earning you know interest yield on your tokens and assets and so for you know millennial and and gen Z and beyond that becomes super compelling right the Snapchat generation the I want it now generation does not want to go inside a bank and and mess

around and so I just don't think people are ready for what's about to come in that regard well and and and what happens when and and I'd love to get your take on how quickly this will happen but what happens when right now crypto is dominated by crypto tokens you can't buy equities or many r wa's stable coins has absolutely exploded so you can buy US Dollars on chain now and that has been one of the fastest growing use cases for crypto but we're also seeing our waas start to really take off like billions per week credit come is coming on chain treasuries like all different parts of these real world assets what happens when you can through your wallet

through your Exodus wallet also buy a GameStop or Robin Hood or you know any or Nvidia or Tesla and you could what when is that coming and and what is going to be the impact of that I I think I think that we are maybe a few years from that oh really you think we're still a few years it's gonna come I think it's gonna come fast I really do because for it's not this year but it's not this year though no no it's not because for like there's still a lot of things that I think need to to happen but for a consumer like why do I need to have a a a Robin Hood app and an exodus wallet like why do I need to have those things like if as a consumer I just care

like okay I've got my Bitcoin I've got my salana it's earning some yield maybe I have my Tesla stock maybe some Coca-Cola earning me a 2.9% dividend like I have all this in one interface and it's all about holding storing and managing these digital assets but it but it's not gonna end there right like the the just the simple notion of like a concert ticket right like I just I bought uh some some tickets to um the the comedian Shane Gillis right and and I wanted to I was like ah crap I can't make to the conf the the the actual show and I'm like I I want to to get rid of these tickets and and it's just it's such a massive pain to do it like I

can't even press a button to sell it's like sorry you cannot sell these tickets I'm like oh my gosh like I wish I could just call up a buddy and be like hey man you want to buy these T yeah I do okay cool you know and then I just send him the inant transfer try should be that simple and then when you think about things like I remember I sold a car a few years ago and the person came over and I'm like wow here I am I have the title out and I'm signing my name on it he's signing his name on he's got to take it down to the DMV and it's just like this is insane we can solve all of this with crypto with nfts and we can make it so that a person can hold all of these Assets in inside of a wallet and

we can do it safely too to to Pro uh protect consumers I just imagine any time anybody in our show says the word nfts I know that every listener out there's like ears start bleeding because the way they think about nfts is from the speculation and they lost money so they're like you know but but but the tech the nft tech that is going to change so many Industries especially those Industries which are held by monopolies like Ticket Master Live Nation like that is that is definitely going to come okay let's let's talk you you and I were chatting before the show about um the impact of trump launching a meme coin I think that was such a shock nobody had that on their bingo card for

this year what's the what are your thoughts on I I don't need your thoughts on trumpcoin or actually that part of it but what's the what's coming because that happened what are your thoughts yeah so here you have the president of the United States launching a mean coin to people all over the world and historically for those that are for those that are in the industry and and are are building the industry know that if you want to launch a token you have to go to this moment in time it it almost feels like uh just through so many Hoops to make sure that you're not breaking any laws

and you have to even be careful like oh oh okay uh we're going to launch this token and we have to we can't let Americans even get this token we we we we can't do that right and so for the president of the United States to say hey I'm launching this meme coin this token here you go and anybody in the world Americans included can can come you know get it and and buy the token like have fun it's a collectible have fun what that means is that obviously the president United States doing this means that the SEC regulations are going to change so that I mean anybody can can can do this and and and today I I think it's safe to say that you already see some some artists like like let's say like Iggy Isa like

she launched a token right a mem coin before all this and so it just communicates that it is okay now to launch these tokens build community around those tokens a and I think it's going to really redefine Capital markets because right now to actually IPO and go down that path of building out and selling Equity it it's there's just a long regulatory process and I understand why that process exists it's to protect retail consumers I I get that I understand that that thought process right but still a retail consumer can walk into a casino and put $1,000 down on on red and you know press you know a

button and you know there's no regulation against that so clearly as a society we were talking out of both sides of our mouth and I think that we have to figure out what that path is to allow cons to empower consumers to do what they want to do with with their money because there's already laws against fraud and and scams and and things like that so I think what's going to happen is I think we're going to start seeing an explosion of mean coin creation I wouldn't shock me if like more more than we have right now we are oh my gosh I think I think like like a Taylor Swift like maybe you get a Taylor Swift Travis Kelce token or something like that um you're going to see explosion of mecoin

uh token creation I think you're going to see an explosion of of token Creation in general and I think the SEC will probably add a little Clarity and guidelines on how to use it for raising capital and that's going to again it's going to completely redefine Capital markets so that when you consider platforms like Exodus and and other platform like a coinbase or whatever where as a consumer like you can come in and like wait okay I I can get my trump coin and and wait a second this um this business this I don't know this Pet Shop that I go to to buy my turtles they've got a token and um I'm I'm gonna buy their token and and maybe it's a fun

kind of collectible maybe it's a it's a capital raising instrument with you know again maybe some more guidance and Clarity from the secc but the the ability we already know the ability to do this is a one click on on certain platforms just one click create a token and and it's out there I think we're just going to see this explode over the next year yeah I completely agree and I think that like the thing that I keep thinking is um meme coins are very one-dimensional in the way that they are understood right now they are mainly understood as uh purely casino gambling scams a lot of the time right like no fundamentals and I think that we need to

like reframe it in our mind because we're going to see I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a doge ETF this year so we are probably going to see an ETF we're probably G to see a Litecoin ETF and at this point honestly Litecoin basically is a mcoin at this point so we're going to see mem coins have ETFs what does that mean that means that Wall Street now has to pay attention and understand this type of capital formation right and then at the same time we're also going to see the ability as you said for legitimate other legitimate celebrities other legitimate attention Grabbers like the people that have the most attention in the world can now also go launch their own collectible token and who knows what they do with

that but what that means is we're we're we're giving these people who own attention new ways to raise capital and yes there will definitely be scams and buy or beware and do your own research and all that not Financial advice but it it really is going to it's there is going to be a shift in capital formation that I think we just have never seen before and then tack onto that Ai and all these AI agents that are going to be out there using crypto trading crypto because that's the way they're going to exchange and trade money and they could have they a lot of them will have their own tokens and look we're just it just feels like we're so so early and then at the same time I think about you have all

because of because of Regulation opening up I think you're going to see a flood of entrepreneurs and a flood of VC money coming back into the space which has been gone for a long time the FTX hangover still exists as well we have not seen even like growth level fund fundraising has not happened much so you're going to see all this money coming back into these entrepreneurs that are experimenting and trying out to just build user apps and we don't know what the big user app is going to be but I just it feels like this is the year where we're going to see these bigger apps and we're going to see crypto start to reach more mainstream adoption Beyond just speculation I know we have stable coins

and obviously that one is like taken off and can't slow that one down but I just it feels like there's this Confluence of all these events happening and we're all just sitting here complaining that our bags are down but the the next I don't know the next three to six months I could just see things happening faster than they've ever happened oh I totally agree with you I mean I I think it's just you said it these influencers they they're going to be creating these these these coins and tokens so that they can help the Even build community right like imagine if okay I'm a Taylor Swift again right I'm Taylor Swift and I got you know Taylor coin or whatever it is right and I'm like hey to all my uh Taylor Swift my my swifties right my Swifty coin uh

um you hold 10 of these I'm going to have this special event for you or you're going to get a first release on an album or things like that so you can really do interesting community building with these tokens and coins that I think we're we're gonna see more of that I was I think we're going to see the the we've been sort of scratching the surface of today when you think of a wallet you're like cool I've got my assets I've got my you know again my Bitcoin my ethereum my salana whatever it is right nobody has really cracked the code yet I think on bringing social into wallets right and and you can just imagine something just really as simple as you know in the world of of web 3 in in defi

that you can do these bet like imagine this okay I I place a bet on the Super Bowl right because Super Bowl like betting in it's legal in America now right sports betting is legal in America so imagine you place this bet and you're like I bet money on the cansas City Chiefs and and I did and sadly I lost so I bet money on the Kansas City Chiefs and and you know and then it goes out to my like say on X right on Twitter right hey everybody I bet on the Kansas City Chiefs you know and then you know people are engaging like no the Eagles and you know back and forth and so you can imagine this world where wallets and social comes together and I think that's gonna have a lot of interesting Dynamics and then you hit on AI oh my gosh I

don't I don't even think I think people were prepared pred for how that's going to change things when in in in the intersection of crypto like to your point these agents are just like chat PT just released you know people may have heard of it called operator and I think they've have it limited to just the highest TI and so for people that have operator like you can be like okay operator go buy buy me some vitamins on Amazon right and it goes and it does it pulls up Amazon but then you got to stop and it's gonna log in for you and you you gotta log in and and then of course in Amon everybody's got their credit card on Amazon so that's you know that works fine there's a lot of platforms and services where you may not have your credit card in and so you can imagine a

world where you Empower your agent you're like hey agent here's a act partial access to my wallet right and and you're only limited to 500 or maybe maybe a$ thousand dollars and and I want you to book me this uh this trip down to Miami or something like that and your budget's $1,000 and and Away you go right and it's got your stable coins and it just it just does it on your behalf the world is not prepared that these agents are I actually think that on online shopping and and and that I would say in let's say five years 90% of online shopping is done by these AI agents which is that's gonna blow

people's minds when that happens who that's crazy to think about what are your thoughts on on wallets and AI I mean obviously you guys are a wallet company you're one of the the biggest wallets in uh in America and there's all these D D or D DF aai it's such a weird term but all these wallets that are trying to integrate Ai and it feels like I mean from a user perspective I'm like yeah give it to me right like yeah damn right I want to be able to tell my wallet to go do yield for me and to go bridge for me or sell this and find the best rate but also security and Trust are a bit of an issue here too where are we at right now and

where do you see us going yeah I I I think that it's still early like we had some early prototypes where it was kind of fun where we kind of behind the scenes we had this prototype that was hooked up to Exodus and you could be like you could talk to your wallet right and you like what's what's my balance and would tell you your balance and like how much Bitcoin I tell you but then you'd be like hey actually talk to me like you're Lil Wayne or something like that and be like yo dog your balance is and like it kind of took on like a fun personality and and that was kind of fun but it felt more like a toy at that moment and so I I see the intersection of wallets and AI mostly happening through these agents uh that's where I I

I think it's really going to take off I don't see at this moment in time where you're just going to have just this empty box and you're going to say tell me my balance uh or or type to it we are humans we are visual creatures right we like to see like this nice donut portfolio and you can see ah you visually right away you see how much Bitcoin and salana and all that um and so I don't I know some people are pursuing these kind of text interfaces like I've heard the the phrase like no interface is the best interface and and I get why people say that cute phrase uh but I just I don't see that happening like that I think it's really going to happen

through agents and I think yeah you the example you you gave of like yield farming telling your wallet to go finding the best yield farming opportunities like that might happen through an agent but I just I still think that we're we're quite early in in that room what are your before we let you go JP uh what are your thoughts on this cycle where where do you think we are in the cycle do you are you bullish are you are do you think we're at a top right now and it's over as a lot of retail seems to be calling no no it's not over at all no no we're just we're just we're just be kidding like look I I will say for your listeners I am more of a perable and so everybody

should know that like I have this bias towards like yes like you know feeling really bullish but I think you know I have I have said this before I've said this before and the I'm gonna say it again say it again again this time is different and this time I think it's different is because we have such a strong pro- crypto business administration and now we finally have Wall Street with these ETFs fueling all this we have big institutional interests and I think that the amount of capital that's still sitting on the sidelines that's going to come in is is going to be crazy so personally I think that I I could see

Bitcoin this cycle flipping gold and that this cycle cycle I say right cycle that is a bold prediction holy gez what is gold right now Gold's 18 trillion yeah so that put that put Bitcoin a little over 800,000 if I if I recall wow that is the boldest prediction we have had of the milro show yeah now will it stay above that the whole time no we know how these things work and everybody that's been a part of this industry for a while sees it run up and then it's painful when it runs down this time around will will that be as painful on the way

down it if we're talking about these kinds of numbers then then then yeah it could be it could still be pretty painful right no I do think I do think that we'll see that and and here here's why let me just put a little bit more meat on this as to why I I see it this way we have the president talking about creating the Strategic National Reserve right and and holding Bitcoin if you are any other country you can't just be sitting on the sidelines and say hey well we're gonna let America just get all the Bitcoin and we're just gonna sit and watch them get Bitcoin no you're gonna you're gonna be doing the same thing and and a lot of them are probably already doing it behind the scenes so yes agreed I I think that's going to be

the one of the big catalysts here yeah yeah I think uh it's it's an arms race at this point and I agree I think there are already countries doing it that have not publicly announced it and I don't know when it happens in the US uh it feels like a when not an if to me at this point although there are still a lot of people who think it's still an if um but I don't know that it happens this year uh I think July 23rd is the date by which Trump's executive order H um has a deadline to make a proposal for what a national stock or national Reserve would look like uh and there seems to be this talk that it could include other assets as well which we don't need to dive into

that conversation of whether it should or shouldn't but to but I understand I know I know I know you got strong opinions on bitcoin only in it but the point is July 23rd we'll probably we'll see some sort of proposal let's say the proposal was we should do it you're still talking months of it going through uh Congress and the Senate before it would actually happen so like this is time the thing that could happened sooner was let's say they said they were going to do it and they might say we're not going to sell the Bitcoin that we currently have which is about 200,000 that they've gotten from uh various um like basically seized all this Bitcoin they haven't bought the Bitcoin so there's I I agree though I completely agree I I don't know about your very

bold prediction of it of it beating gold in this cycle I think eventually for sure it's going higher than gold and and I think if you're if you're a long investor like just buy and hold and don't worry about the dips because as you said there is going to be we're going to have a runup I think we're gonna have a great rest of the year and then yeah there will be a dip again are we gonna dip you know uh I think we're probably G to dip the the am the percentage of the dip is going to be less than it was last time and going to continue to dampen as a result of the ETF and all these various flows but JP very bold prediction wow I'm yeah I'm GNA write that one down we'll get you back on the show at the end of the like

I said when that happens I'm gonna shoot you an email right away I'm like all right let's go let's get on the show go it's it's it's here no I I think look your your your call on the national reserve and the timing I think that's that's accurate because look even if they're planning on it like it's GNA take some time and and maybe maybe people are stockpiling right now I mean you know who knows yeah it's true JP absolute pleasure to get you on the show today thanks for joining us really appreciate you sharing your story so so openly uh because these are the stories that really give a perspective on what it's been like to build a crypto company in America and what you went through and the challenges and now we're on the other side of that complete 180 and just like the

floodgates are opening it's going to be huge uh I want to know everybody listening in I'm really curious to know if you guys want us to talk more about IPOs one thing we're always thinking about on the show is like should we talk more about public companies and should you be investing in public companies or should we just stick to crypto assets so let us know in the comments if you guys want to hear more public company talk or if you guys want us to stick to crypto assets JP thanks again for joining us today thank you for having me thanks for listening in everybody we'll see you again tomorrow have a wicked awesome day as always if you liked today's episode please hit subscribe and make sure you follow us so you don't miss out on the next one there's also a link in the

description to our free 5 minute daily newsletter where we simplify crypto for you while making you laugh and if you're willing to step up your crypto investing game we're going to also leave a link for milk Road Pro you get access to our portfolio where you can see exactly what we are buying this is your number one resource to help you invest successfully in crypto one final note this show is for educational purposes only and nothing we say is financial advice investing in crypto or any asset is risky and you should never invest more than you can afford to lose thanks so much for listening in my friends have a wicked awesome day