Crypto Just Entered a New Era — What Trump's Announcement Really Means

When we recorded this episode in August 2026, it felt as though crypto had just entered a new era. As I said at the top of the show, "something potentially historic happened in Washington last week and the crypto markets noticed."

Travis Carter and I spent the show on what that moment meant: the rules being written in Washington, the money being turned into code, and why traditional finance and crypto are merging faster than most people realise.

In this episode (31 chapters)

1. 0:00Crypto just entered a new era
2. 0:24What the CLARITY Act fight was really about
3. 1:31Vice President Vance on the Senate holdouts
4. 3:04Lending against crypto without the bank in the middle
5. 4:21Smart contracts take the emotion out
6. 4:56President Trump calls on Congress
7. 5:48Staying ahead of China — and the rare earths play
8. 6:26Bitcoin past US$70,000
9. 6:45The Solana flush: what leverage did in six minutes
10. 7:53Is this heading for one global currency?
11. 8:42Why nations still want their own money
12. 10:11Japan, South Korea and Russia already moved
13. 11:11Three worlds colliding: crypto, AI and quantum
14. 12:22Coinbase's Brian Armstrong on the Senate vote
15. 13:17Why a named date matters
16. 14:19Trade, manufacturing, and settling outside the dollar
17. 15:21GENIUS Act reserves — and the Treasury rumour
18. 16:02US$40 trillion, and what's coming up
19. 16:19Live in Perth, Thursday 3 September
20. 16:43Real-world assets on the ledger
21. 17:31Robinhood's CEO on tokenised US stocks
22. 19:12Stocks that trade 24 hours a day
23. 20:16Dividends on a tokenised share — paid in what?
24. 21:20Fractional Berkshire, and wrapped equity
25. 21:51Five per cent of an investment property
26. 22:29Staking, liquidity, and doing the due diligence
27. 23:07Accelerating into a new economy
28. 23:4324/7 markets, and AI arriving in trading
29. 25:03The right tools — and the right knowledge
30. 25:56Why the job market is more exposed than people think
31. 26:16bluskyfactory.com

What actually happened

What the fight was really about

The sticking point was the banks. As I explained on the show, "the banks weren't happy that crypto exchanges could offer to clients the ability to have yield on their coins, on their stablecoins." If an exchange can pay you a return on digital dollars, what's the need for a bank account?

That's why this matters well beyond crypto. Travis saw it straight away: "I can anticipate that there's going to be a case where you'll be able to start getting a mortgage using crypto instead of using fiat currency." And it goes further than that. You "could potentially lend a loan against your own crypto assets and have your own loan going so you don't need the bank and you potentially don't lose your own crypto."

Much of it runs on smart contracts. "When you enter into a smart contract, it really takes the emotions out. It evens the playing field." It doesn't look at your credit history; it's programmed to do a job, and away it goes. But I was clear on the risk too: "there are risks involved in all of the stuff that people have to do their due diligence on."

Volatility, and what leverage does

The excitement had a sharp edge. On the show I described how Solana spiked and then collapsed in a matter of minutes, just after midnight US time when few people were trading, flushing out traders who had borrowed to buy. "This is the thing about such a volatile market with crypto. And when people are putting leverage on that is the big risk that they take on when they do that kind of action."

Thin markets plus borrowed money is a dangerous combination, whatever the asset.

Three worlds colliding

Travis asked whether all this leads to a single global currency. My view: not soon. "Nations will still want their own currencies because that gives them advantage in different places."

What I do see is something bigger: "You see three worlds colliding here. You see cryptocurrency development going. You see artificial intelligence coming to the table and then also quantum computing." We're already hearing about AI agents paying each other. As I said on the show, science fiction is now becoming reality.

Travis put the right frame on it: "the AI and all that sort of stuff is just a tool. It's a person using it." And as I replied, "it's not the technology that's evil. It's the heart of humanity behind it, which can be for good or evil."

Stablecoins and the GENIUS Act

A stablecoin is a crypto token designed to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar. America's GENIUS Act, passed in 2025, set the first federal rules for them, including that issuers hold reserves backing every coin. That's significant: for the first time, private companies, not just central banks, can issue regulated digital dollars.

It also raises the questions we explored on the show: what happens when trade between nations is settled in stablecoins rather than through banks, and, as I noted on the show, what it means for US national debt, which had just passed US$40 trillion.

Shares that trade like crypto

Then there's tokenisation: putting real-world assets, from property to shares, on a blockchain. Robinhood's chief executive described tokenised US shares that trade 24 hours a day and can be moved around a blockchain like any crypto asset. As I put it, "This is saying that basically cryptocurrency will represent stocks on the stock exchange and you can take them off the exchange."

Travis asked the question everyone should ask: if you hold a tokenised share in a company that pays dividends, "Do you get paid the dividend in crypto or do you get paid the dividend in fiat?" My honest answer: "Those rules are still being defined."

The opportunity he was most excited about was fractional ownership. For a young person with a few thousand dollars saved, "instead of buying a full house, they might be able to go buy five percent of investment property."

This is general education, not financial advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset.

The right tools, and the right knowledge

The world is changing fast. "The world is accelerating so quickly. What used to take six months takes two weeks now." And as Travis said, the tools that matter aren't a fancy laptop: they're "having the right mindset, having the right knowledge about going into things."

That's the real point of this episode, even with the vote lost. The rules are still being written, the old financial system and the new one are merging, and the people who understand the change before it lands are the ones best placed when it does.

Three questions to ask this week

1. Do I understand what a stablecoin is, and who stands behind it?
2. If my bank account was frozen tomorrow, what would I do?
3. Which parts of the new financial system am I watching, and which am I ignoring because they seem complicated?

If the second question unsettles you, the free masterclass starts there.

Education only. Nothing here is personal financial, tax or legal advice.