In last week’s podcast episode with Ejaaz, we explored why it makes sense to build decentralised AI tools that people will actually want to use. If you’re a founder creating innovative solutions at the intersection of AI x Crypto, and you’re passionate about shaping the future of decentralised tech, we’d love to hear from you.
Hello!
It started with a chart no one expected to matter.
JELLY launched, Hyperliquid listed the perps. Someone—maybe smart, maybe just plain reckless—took a position big enough to break things. Open interest climbed. Spot was nudged. And just like that, a protocol designed to be neutral got caught in a game it couldn’t control.
What looked like an altcoin trade turned into a stress test. Not just of market structure, but of belief systems. Hyperliquid, the decentralised exchange, made a centralised call—liquidations, delistings, unilateral oracles. All in the name of survival.
That’s where the conversation began—not in critique, but in curiosity. Because the question isn’t whether these systems are perfect. It’s whether they bend or break when it counts.
From there, the thread unraveled.
Not chasing HYPE, but drawn to slower rhythms where Jose spends his time. Intent-based infra and why it stalled. The liquidity traps of Ethereum’s Layer 2s. The quiet value of solvers. And the subtle way user experience, not ideology, ends up defining the boundaries of a product.
There’s no grand takeaway here. Just a market in flux. People building half-finished things. Systems learning from failure. And the sense that underneath it all, we’re still searching for the flame that makes it all catch fire again.
This isn’t a blueprint. It’s a snapshot.
This conversation happened before the recent drama reshaped the mood. It’s lighter, more fluid, and intentionally unscripted. Unlike our regular podcast, this format let me follow the thread wherever it led. With Jose, that meant honest takes on market structure, decentralisation, and the weird edges of crypto.
Making sense of tariff-driven markets,
Saurabh Deshpande
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